Howling at the Moon
by Niamh Cyneburg
Summary: A random meeting on a night out and Seth learns first-hand what it feels like when gravity moves. But he isn't expecting his perfect match to be a wild child, with an independent streak to make Leah proud, and a knack for trouble that will leave him grey.
1. Prologue

"Oh Dear God!" Collin and Brady both turned at Seth's strangled exclamation. "It's her… It's HER damnit."

Watching the emotions warring for precedence in Seth's face, was something the younger wolves would recall in much greater detail during their next patrol. To Seth's consternation. "It's who Seth?" Brady, the braver of the two asked. "The girl… from the club… the one I danced with."

At their blank looks, Seth half-turned in frustration and hissed "My IMPRINT you idiots" Growing more annoyed with the sniggering the twins broke into, Seth began to lay into them, when utter horror crashed over him at what was about to happen.

The younger wolves gathered themselves enough to wonder what made him taper off at the start of what promised to be an impressive tirade, at least, impressive for the most even-tempered shifter in both packs. They faced in the same direction as him in almost the same moment. His face was frozen in terror as the pretty brunette ahead of them, stepped to the edge of the cliff and paused for a second.  
>Seth started forward, then froze; as she extended her arms...<p>

and then tossed herself off the edge.

He stumbled and then fell to his knees at the implications of what could have happened to her. But it didn't prepare him for the reaction of his pack-mates. They rushed to the edge and looked over with worried expressions. When they turned back to him, he expected some sort of sympathy. He expected his insides to crumple when they told him that the love of his life had just plunged to her death. Before he even had the chance to get to know her, to be more than someone she danced with. Before he had learned her name. He couldn't refer to her as 'the angel' forever, now could he?

Which was why, when they turned, looked at him and then burst out laughing, he did the only thing he could have. Seth Clearwater, shapeshifter, protector of the Quileute tribe, son of one of the Elders, and vanquisher of vampires - lost his temper and phased.

And then promptly dived for his brother's thoats.


	2. The Calm Before The Storm

**A week prior...**

"How exactly did we get roped into this?" Collin asked his twin. "Dude, are you seriously asking me this? For real?" Brady looked at his younger brother (by 14 minutes as that individual liked to exasperatedly exclaim every time the topic came up) "Uh yeah… dumb question I know." Just then, a shiny black, Ford, pick-up truck screeched to a halt next to them, and a smiling face appeared in the driver's window. "You two bums need a ride?" "Hey Seth, how's it going man?" Brady bumped fists with his friend while they waited for Collin to climb in the back seat. "Dude, nice ride" called Collin, while Seth pulled back onto the road "Does Jake know you jacked his truck?"

The twins snickered as Seth snorted, "Yeah, 'coz I'm gonna agree to drive a bunch of wolves around and not get anything out of it… Who do you take me for Collin? You?" The two older boys busted up laughing while the youngest in the two packs countered their ribbing with a good natured comment of his own. "Get stuffed you guys"

"I told Jake, when they thought of this whole scheme, that if I was going to be a designated driver, I was going to do it in style." As they continued towards the store where they were due to pick up Embry, the boys chatted back and forth about the night's plan. One they had been making for ages.

Sam Uley, Alpha of the La Push pack, had finally worked up enough guts to get down on one knee, and ask Emily, his imprint, to marry him. While the amusing story of his proposing had become legend to the pack, tonight they were all heading out to Port Angeles to celebrate the engagement of the couple that had practically parented the rest of the pack as they had phased one by one. And the younger ones were going solely to babysit the older wolves that were finally going to be able to let their hair down without the stress of everything they had endured over the previous few months. The episode with Bella's return, the tension before Renesmee's birth, the visit from the Volturi after that… it had felt like a never ending tide of chaos that had engulfed the packs with no hope for them getting away.

But it had been hardest of all on the youngest of the packs. Brady, Collin and Ryan were three wolves who had phased just before the war with the newborns, but the ones who had phased just before the Volturi visit were much younger and took it much harder. Apart from the physical havoc it had wreaked on their bodies, their minds suffered as well. Cut off from their friends, insecure with attempting to explain their situations to their parents, they felt trapped and miserable. Until Jake had finally talked Sam into allowing the youngest ones to at least tell their parents, before anyone did something drastic like ship their wayward troublemaker off to military school. This decision had come right on time and Ryan had literally been taken off the bus to Chicago Military Academy, by Jake.

But the place these changes had affected the youngest wolves the most had been in school where they had suddenly seemed to shift alliances from their everyday friends and started hanging out with the gang, as the rest of the reservation saw the packs. Now that there was no threat, most of them were back in school and while Jake, Quil, and Jared had made sure they didn't have to go back to high school by taking their equivalency exams, Paul and Embry had surprised them all by saying they wanted to go back and graduate.

Which brought them back to the night at hand, as they pulled up in front of Embry's apartment and honked impatiently while their pack brother sauntered out. When the pack all headed out together somewhere, it was usually cause for passersby to stop and stare at the large group of even larger men, who actually _growled_ if anyone so much as glanced at the women with them. It wasn't even always the man with the woman in question that got offended. It was any single one of them; whichever one happened to notice the unlucky cretin that attempted to make eye candy of one of the imprints.

They had all noticed this tendency of theirs to get over-protective, and as usual it was Seth who broke into an argument between Paul and Jared, when he came up with the theory behind it. Paul and Rachel, his imprint, had been loading groceries into her truck at the supermarket, before one of their infamous bonfires; and Jared had just driven into the parking lot with Kim. This was when he noticed a sedan driving past Paul and Rachel, and his sensitive hearing picked up one of the teenagers in it, calling out, "Nice Ass" as they drove past. He slammed on the brakes, was out the door and the teenager had a broken nose before his brain even registered the extremely large, Native-American boy that had pulled him out his open window.

Although Paul was not angry with his pack-mate, his problem was with the fact that he felt he missed out on delivering a pounding to someone who had disrespected his woman.  
>(The fact that he used the phrase 'my woman' and the others did not correct him, led to ALL the imprinted wolves being in extremely deep trouble with <em>their women<em> respectively. The only one who received a reprieve was Jake, even Claire had flounced off when Quil offered to play dolls with her, as though she knew exactly why the other women were angry. The youngest of both packs found it so hilarious that they had to defect to Jake's territory for a couple of days to escape their Alpha's retribution. Even though Jake sympathized, he couldn't really blame Sam - who could when he left the house, still smarting from Emily's telling off, only to see the cubs rolling on the ground in laughter)

It was just before Paul got mad enough to phase, that Seth interrupted and pointed out that the imprints didn't just matter to their respective wolves. They mattered to the rest of the pack, because they were an integral **part** of the pack.  
>"I mean, look man, you imprinted on Kim, that makes her special to me, now just hold on and let me finish Jared" Seth explained as Jared growled at him. "Jake's my alpha, I look up to the guy, and I look up to you too Paul, even though you're an idiot most times, so Rachel is as good as another big sister to me… and you guys know I would kill for Leah, even though she could probably do it better herself. We all just feel like they are family, and it's kinda an automatic reaction to be protective, you know what I'm getting at here?"<p>

"Embry! Move your ass man, any slower and we _might_ make it there by closing time." "Can it Brady, and Collin, shove over man, lemme get in." Seth interrupted before the arguing got worse, "Buckle up boys, Jake told me Rosalie worked on his truck before Edward told her it was a Birthday Gift for him…" the boys roared with laughter, as Rosalie's dislike for Jacob was legendary "Let's see what this thing can do"  
>With that, Brady leaned forward, turned up the volume on the state of the art stereo system in the truck, and with a loud whoop, the 4 young shapeshifters, took off into the night to meet the rest of their party, leaving behind smoke and the smell of burning rubber to mark the starting point of their drive.<p>

For them, at least, the night had officially begun. 

What they didn't know was that, for one of them, it was an even bigger beginning.


	3. Crash

**At the club…**

* * *

><p>The running joke in both packs was the fact that as long as they went somewhere people didn't know them personally, they almost never got carded anymore. Leah was the only exception of the wolves and since she was actually already over 21, it didn't matter. The others imprints below 21, waltzed in, thanks to the expertise of J. Jenks, which had been Edward and Bella's engagement present to Emily, for how understanding she had been to Bella when she had first found out about the packs.<p>

As they went in, Seth clearly saw Paul smirk at the bouncer as he looked Rachel up and down, and her reaction was to wave her fingers in his face and then point to her ID that he was holding, and then her other hand ensconced in Paul's much larger one. When the bouncer turned slightly to take a look at Paul who towered over the bouncer's paltry 6 feet, he gasped as he realized that Paul was pretty average sized compared to the rest of the group. Jacob took greater pleasure than usual as he leaned forward a little while crossing his arms over his chest emphasizing his bulging muscles.  
>Amid the girl's laughter, the bouncer just gulped and waved them through.<p>

Once they walked through the doors, the crowd seemed to just part to let them through. They headed straight for the tables next to the dance floor that Emily had called ahead and booked. Once jackets came off, Seth and Brady groaned, knowing with how hot the imprints looked tonight, they were going to have to keep an eye out for anyone trying to cop a feel of them on the dance floor, because an angry wolf in the middle of a crowded dance floor was not something they wanted to deal with. Collin just looked at the both of them with an amused expression, and before anyone had a chance to say or do anything, he hopped up on the table and shouted out "Alright people! The partaay has arrived"  
>This got the entire group laughing and broke the slight awkwardness that had formed between them and the tables next to them. While Brady was getting slightly hysterical at the way his twin managed to act a clown every single time they went anywhere, his hysterics reached an abrupt end when a miniskirt and midriff baring top walked past him and beckoned Collin off the table.<br>"Hey funny-man, wanna go dance or are you gonna stay up there all night?" Collin winked at a gobsmacked Seth, Brady and Ryan as he followed the girl with sky high heels, and legs that looked miles long, back to the dance floor. "Damned if he doesn't get the girls. Every. Single. Time" muttered Ryan. "Dude, that is my TWIN. If anything I feel worse" grumbled Brady.

"You know the worst part though?" Embry asked while looking at the younger wolves, "The little shit can Dance, like really dance, not fake it like we do" and just then, as if to illustrate his point, the music changed and Collin dropped to his knees in the middle of the dance floor, spun around and before anyone could figure it out, he had ended up on his head, spun around twice and then launched himself back onto his feet; and he did it all by making it look as easy as a kid playing patty-cake.

Brady replied, "Did you know that he was actually considering going professional? Before the whole supernatural thing caught up?" "Damn! No, I had no idea, haven't even seen anything like it in his head." Embry was stunned. "Yeah, he's good at hiding it. That's what everyone loves about Collin though, the boy learns to look on the bright side. He was down about missing out on that chance for a day maybe, two tops. Then he told me he was over it, because he figures he got a better deal out of it."  
>"Hey Seth… Seth !" Embry and Brady were shaken out of their previous conversation by Ryan gripping Seth's arm and looking slightly panicked.<br>"Seth, snap out of it bro" Embry thumped him across the back and Seth finally blinked. He had been staring across the floor towards the bar with such intensity, Ryan had begun to think he had frozen. "Seth, you ok bro?" questioned Embry. "I'm not sure" mumbled Seth, "I just felt really weird there for a minute… like I should be over there, but what the hell would that be about." He shook it off, and then turned to the other table.  
>"Hey, anyone up for shots?" "Watch yourself Clearwater, you are still driving some of us back" came the rejoinder from Jake. "Sure O Mighty Alpha, but have you forgotten Alcohol burns off much faster at a higher temperature, and ours would be… er… what do you think Brady?" grinned Seth. "Sure sure, you guys, just make sure it's not too bad ok" Jake reminded.<p>

With that, the younger, and more importantly, un-imprinted wolves headed straight over to the bar, where they were instantaneously joined by Collin, downed a round of Kamikazes, and made their way to the dance floor. One of the perks of being a wolf came to light the second they got there. While not one of them had complained about the physicality of being a shape-shifter, this was one of those times they were thankful. Women swarmed them like bees to honey, and they were all careful about potential relationships, knowing like they did, that their imprint was probably out there somewhere, and could show up at any time.

While Seth could normally be counted on to be, if not the life of the party, which was usually Collin, then at least the soul of it; Brady noticed that he seemed a little off-color tonight. He said he kept feeling this urge to go to the other side of the bar, and he couldn't explain it, even to himself. So he did the one thing most stubborn, male, shape-shifters always do.

He ignored the feeling.

Embry had noticed Seth was not his usual self when they had headed to the bar, but wrote it off to something upsetting him earlier. But he still resolved to keep an eye on him, just in case. He turned to the girl he was dancing with and was about to excuse himself, when he suddenly felt something collide with his back. Going with instinct, he turned and grabbed the human canon ball, before anyone got hurt.

What he ended up with, was an armful of gorgeous brunette, complete with green eyes that looked like she was torn between screaming in anger or tearing someone's head off. "Sorry" she mumbled, before attempting to dart away "Hey, are you ok?" asked a concerned Embry, grabbing her arm. "Not really," she winced, "I've been trying to get away from El Creepo over there for ages, the asshole won't take no for an answer." For the life of him, Embry had no idea why the thought that some nameless, faceless idiot was bothering this girl, got to him so much. His face set and he stepped in front of her as a blond college kid appeared. One look at the girl's face marked the blonde for 'El Creepo' and Embry could barely suppress the rage that was shaking him. While one side of his brain was wondering why the hell he felt this protective about a girl he didn't even know, another side was figuring out how to hit the blond, smirking, fool, without spattering blood everywhere.

This decision was taken out of his hands when Blondie stepped forward and attempted to grab Green Eye's arm while slurring "Come on babe, let's go dance." Embry simply snatched his hand away from the girl and crushed his fist between his fingers while maintaining eye contact with the now-cringing collegiate. "Yeah, you know, I forgot my brother was here too" sneered the brunette while she watched him openly gape at Embry's size, only to have Paul suddenly loom over his shoulder as well. "Do we have a problem dipshit?" he asked as Embry simply stayed silent and kept looking him in the eye. "Oh hey, naah bro, he was just leaving, weren't ya shitbrick?" asked the brunette, linking arms with Embry and glaring at the blond.  
>He just winced in pain as Embry tightened his grip and then gasped as he suddenly let go. Just then the brunette stepped forward, leaned forward and whispered "When a girl says no, she usually means it" and then to Embry's confusion, she put both hands on the blond's shoulders and leaned forward a little more. To him, it looked like she was about to kiss him, when she suddenly raised her right knee, right into his crotch.<p>

Embry burst out laughing, as she watched in satisfaction while Blondie crumpled to the floor. "And that's for grabbing my ass" she turned to walk away as his friends cleared him away, when Embry stopped her and stopped laughing long enough to extend his hand and say "Brother to Strangers" with a big smile. She smiled mischievously, and held out her hand as well, "Green Eyes McSquizzy" Paul burst out laughing behind them and added "Yeah sure, and I'm Boog." All three of them laughed, and she looked up at the easy-going boys, no, men, in front of her and wondered at the change in them. A minute ago, they were ready to kill someone, someone they didn't even know, because they wanted to help her. Someone they had never met before. "Thanks you guys, he was being a SERIOUS pain in the ass, and I was looking for my friends when he started annoying me." "No worries McSquiz" teased Embry, "You need help finding your friends?"

Just then a ball of fire, with bright red hair barreled into the still nameless brunette "Kiki-meister… baby girl… I saw blondell being an ass and I tried to get to you, but well, I'm size challenged… which you both are definitely NOT" she continued while inspecting Paul and Embry. Paul chuckled, and left them to get sorted out. Embry smiled at the younger girls and the brunette thanked him once more, before walking away with the red head.

Since Embry's dance partner had long since disappeared, he made his way back to the table only to find a worried Brady shaking Seth, who was sitting on a stool with his head facedown on the table. "Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you tonight" a worried Embry asked, as Seth got off the stool and began to weave through the crowd towards the exit. Before Embry could follow him, Brady stopped him and pointed out Collin, who had already caught up with Seth and followed him outside.

Once there, Collin watched worriedly as Seth looked up into the darkness and took a deep breath.  
>"Dude, I have no idea what the hell is making me feel this way" he finally muttered. "I mean, we run at a temperature that would mean death for a normal human being, so we don't even get sick, so why the hell does it feel like my gut stepped out for a walk and is currently running through broken glass." Collin winced at that particularly detailed description and was about to say something to make his pack-mate feel better, when he was interrupted by the door behind them opening and a figure slipping through it before it shut again.<br>Whoever it was, hadn't noticed them yet, until "Whew, good idea to party away your last night of freedom with a hyper best friend K… Sheesh, when are you ever going to learn girl?" Collin looked around and belatedly realized that the girl was talking to herself. He grinned and was about to interrupt her to let her know that there were other people out here when he caught the look on Seth's face. He looked like he was being suffocated with an oxygen pipe; like the reason he was struggling was right in front of him and he could do nothing about it.

As he turned to face the girl again, he saw her stiffen and realized that she had spotted them. "Oops, sorry guys, I didn't know anyone else was out here. I'm just hiding from my bestie, so if you see an energy ball with red hair, just say that you haven't seen me ok" she grinned. "Sure sure" Collin replied automatically. Before he could say anything else, the door opened behind them and the light fell across her face.

Seth gasped.

This was it. This was her. His everything. Nothing mattered anymore. Not his tribe, not school, not the packs, not Collin who was shaking him and asking what was wrong. It wasn't until the green eyes in front of him narrowed in concern did he realize that he had gasped out loud and then gone dead still. Before Collin, or the vision in front of him had a chance to say anything, Seth blurted out words he had never before uttered to a girl. Ever.

"Dance with me?"

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><p>AN - Hi guys, I hope you like this story so far, and if you have been reading it, could you possibly let me know? Then at least I will know whether to keep writing it, or that its not good enough to keep going. I would love to hear from you.

And if you review, please leave your name and you will be surprised at where it might turn up in this story :)  
>I have a major character that needs a name and if you are the first to review and leave your name it will probably be yours :D<p>

So hurry up and click that button!


	4. Epiphany

**Seth POV**

* * *

><p>I am out with both packs tonight and while I know that this club is probably the safest kind of fortress against a vampire attack, I can't help but feel the way I felt when the newborns had attacked. Jittery. Nervous. Like some sixth sense was telling me that I was missing something major. Something important. A huge piece of the puzzle in front of me that I hadn't seen before, but was nonetheless expecting. The feeling had crept up on me from the time we had pulled into the parking lot down the street. It had gotten worse when we got inside the club.<p>

It was subconscious, but it made me so jumpy that I had snapped at Kim when she had put her arm around me to ask if I was ok. If it wasn't for the way I had immediately apologized or if Jared hadn't seen the look on my face when I realized it was Kim, then I might have been in realllly deep trouble with Sam's beta.

Kim had shaken off my strange behavior with a warning look at Jared, that had meant she could take care of herself. It didn't make me feel less guilty for snapping at her anyway.

"Seth, sweetie, there is something wrong and I just want you to know, that if you need to talk, well… I AM better at keeping a secret than most of the others around here," she grinned as she indicated the rest of the pack; who were all studiously ignoring us, but I knew their supernatural hearing had picked up every word of our talk, like we were standing right next to them.

"I know you have a big sister to talk to in case something is bugging you, and I know you can take your pick of older brother figures" she lowered her voice before continuing "but just in case you need someone with an objective opinion, you come get me ok? Anytime you need to"

"Thanks Kimmie" I mumbled, while she grinned at the nickname only I was allowed to call her. I hugged her to show that I really did appreciate her offer, and that I was truly sorry about snapping at her earlier. Jared raised his eyebrow at me, and I smirked at him before smiling and letting go of his imprint.

The evening seemed to flow around me, without me noticing anything in particular, except for this nagging urge in the back of my head that seemed to be pushing me towards the other side of the bar. I knew the dance floor extended to both ends of the bar, as it took up one entire side of the club. This meant that my brothers were probably heading to the floor as well. We had a couple of shots earlier, but I wasn't drinking anything after that, making sure I was stone cold sober when it came time to leave. Being designated driver was something we ALL took very seriously.

Jacob had lost his mother thanks to a drunk driver and we had all felt his pain whenever he thought of her and how she had been snatched away because someone was careless.

It was just then when I noticed Embry in some kind of altercation in the middle of the dance floor. I was already up, out of my seat and walking towards him, before I had even realized what I was doing. Jacob grabbed my arm and I noticed that Paul had joined Embry out there. I shook my head at how distracted I felt. Jake looked at me and was about to ask something when a flash of brown curls peeked at me from the other side of the floor. He saw the way my head snapped around and his face took on a thoughtful expression. I heard Embry laugh and he was joined by Paul when I heard this extra edge of music to their laughter. It made my insides twist to the point of discomfort.

I shook my arm out of Jake's slack grip and went back to my table, ignoring the stabbing in my gut that was telling me to walk the other way. I felt confused and disoriented and when I got to the table, it was all I could do not to just slump to the floor. Instead I rested my head on the table and the cold of the marble top seemed to help a little. But only for a few seconds. That was when the gut-wrenching returned full power.

I got up, and made my way towards the exit. I needed air. Just a breather. I couldn't think, or even make sense of the way my head seemed to feel tonight. I heard Embry ask something as I had left the table, but I had no clue what he said. The irony of having the best hearing in both the packs crashed over me, and then disappeared a second later, like every other thought I had had tonight. I couldn't understand feeling this way. As I walked to the door, I felt rather than saw people move out of my way. And even that was like it was happening a million miles away.

The only time I had felt this disconnected before in my entire life, was when the twins and I had stolen a bottle of vodka from their Dad's collection and we had drunk the entire thing. This was back when I was 14 and the twins were just 13, long before phasing had come into the picture. We had gotten so ill that we had sworn to never look at alcohol again.

But I knew this wasn't the same, because I had had 2 shots. And ONLY 2 shots. To someone whose body burned off the alcohol so fast, it was the same as a normal human being taking a sniff from an open bottle of vodka.  
>It had no effect whatsoever. So I knew I wasn't drunk.<p>

Then why did everything feel so fuzzy and out of focus tonight? I got outside and took a deep breath. I felt Collin's presence behind me and I couldn't even summon up the energy to turn to him. I knew he was concerned, but the only thing I could concentrate on right at that moment was the way my stomach was twisting inside me. This was how I imagined red hot pokers would feel if they were bundled up in someone's insides.

"Dude, I have no idea what the hell is making me feel this way" I told him. "I mean, we run at a temperature that would mean death for a normal human being, so we don't even get sick, so why the hell does it feel like my gut stepped out for a walk and is currently running through broken glass." Collin winced and was about to say something when the door opened again and something happened.

I couldn't put my finger on it. But somehow I knew. This was it. This was the answer. It was staring me in the face, but I still couldn't clearly recognize it. It felt like looking at something through a slowly clearing fog. Or at a math problem I knew I could solve. The answer was in my brain, but I had to work it out first. I was relieved for about a nano-second when suddenly I caught the scent of something lemony, tangy almost. With an undertone of the way the cliffs smelt when we went diving the day after a storm. It was comforting, and yet there was something about it that made my brain seize up.

And then I heard it. It was music. It was so beautiful it made me want to sing, and cry, and laugh. All at the same time. It was a voice.

"Whew, good idea to party away your last night of freedom with a hyper best friend K… Sheesh, when are you ever going to learn girl?"

I saw Collin looking around and watched his face as he realized she was talking to herself. He looked like he was about to comment on it, when he saw me; his expression as he did a double take, made a corner of my mind note it down. I was going to ask him what he saw in my face right then, to make his eyes widen like that.

Right now my insides felt different. Not the nervous clamor of earlier in the evening, but like pins and needles. Like when your foot falls asleep and you have to shake it about a bit before it wakes up completely. Like that last foot of water as you surface after a dive. When you know a deep breath of salty air is just that close.

That scent hit me again, just as I heard the music of her voice.

"Oops, sorry guys, I didn't know anyone else was out here. I'm just hiding from my bestie, so if you see an energy ball with red hair, just say that you haven't seen me ok" she grinned. When she smiled I felt like I had never been sad before. All the bad stuff seemed to fade away. "Sure sure" I heard Collin reply. Before he could say anything else, the door opened again and the light fell across her face.

I felt my breath whoosh out of my lungs as I looked into eyes so green, they reminded me of a Jade pendant my Mum always wore. I could feel everything else fading away. Everything except her eyes. And her smile. I was amazed at how easy it was to forget. School. The essays I had due Monday. The fact that I had patrol tomorrow. Sam and Emily's engagement. Jake, my alpha. The pain at losing my Dad. The way I loved my Mum and Leah. The twins; my best friends now, even though we were a year apart. None of it mattered. Except…why was she frowning? What happened? The urge to tear apart her reason for being even mildly unhappy was overpowering. Unreasonably so, said the back of my mind, but the rest of me said 'Shut Up.'

Only then did I realize that Collin was shaking me, and I could dimly hear him ask if I was ok. OK? What a ridiculous thing to ask. Of course I was Ok. I was MORE than ok. I was great, in fact. I had found her, my imprint. I was complete. And then I saw something in her eyes that froze me to my core.

She was turning to leave.

The movement was microscopic. Barely visible. But I had seen the intent in her eyes. Collin was still worried; still asking if I was ok. But I couldn't concentrate on him anymore. I needed her to stay. She couldn't leave. Please, God, don't let her leave.

Then I blurted out the only thing that had registered in my panic stricken brain. 3 words I had never said to a girl before.

"Dance with me?"

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><p><strong>AN** – Hi guys.

A big shout out to Michelle (animated gemini) for being the first to favorite my story. You totally made me "Squee" with excitement. Look out for your special mention soon girlie. All I need now is a review so that I have the name of my secondary character. If you don't want your full name up on a public review, you can always PM me.

Also, with this chapter, I just felt like I had to show what I thought Seth might have felt like when he imprinted. I know SM says that its like gravity moves, but I felt that when it actually happens, a guy might just not think in terms of Newton and his theories.


	5. Magic

**A/N:** Before you guys get to the chapter I just wanted to specially mention the authors knows as "Stupid Leeches" who specialize in Twi-fiction. Especially the wolf packs. I adore their story 'Losing Control' and definitely recommend you try it out. They are favorited on my homepage and so is their story. Much love you guys.

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><p><em>"Dance with me?"<br>_

* * *

><p>"Sure, but maybe we should go back inside first?"<p>

He smiled and offered her his arm, while the other boy with him just watched the whole exchange with an extremely bemused expression on his face.

Collin was pretty much speechless at what had just happened, right in front of him. He stayed outside while the two of them went back through the doors and just stared at the ground in front of him, trying to make sense of it all. Barely a couple of minutes later, his twin strode through the doors and looked around before heading straight for him. "Col?" He called out, "You ok bro?"

He looked Brady in the eye and then muttered, "Seth just imprinted man" and shook his head while his twin absorbed it. "What?" he cried out, "Are you freaking kidding me? Coz if you are Col, jeez man, I'm telling you, I'll… " he trailed off as he watched Collin shaking his head. "He did man, right here, about 5 minutes ago"

Suddenly some things started to make sense to Brady; Seth had been out of sorts since they got to the club. He had felt this draw to the other side of the club the whole time, and it was probably because she had been there. They two wolves outside looked at each other and without speaking, agreed that, until Seth got around to telling the rest of the packs, they wouldn't say a word either. Except for Jake. They both knew Seth's alpha had to be told. They would leave it up to him whether he told Sam or not. That wasn't their call to make.

Back inside the club, they passed the floor where Seth and the still nameless girl were dancing along with Jared and Kim, and Embry and what had to be his fourth or fifth partner for the night. Collin shook his head at him before he moved towards the floor where he had 2 willing partners before he even blinked. Brady wondered at the way his brother, his twin, seemed to attract women without seeming to try. On the other hand, Brady, more reserved than his hearty doppelganger, preferred to wait, bide his time as it were. Something in his gut told him she, whoever she happened to be, was going to be worth waiting for.

He got to his table and sat down where he had a clear view of the floor and his pack brothers while they danced and had an overall good time. He watched Seth lean down to the girl's ear and say something. While Brady didn't know what exactly he had said, he saw her eyes light up and a slight blush cover her cheeks.

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><p><strong>Her POV.<strong>

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><p>Wow. Just WOW. This guy is a complete stranger and yet it doesn't feel like that at all. It's like I've known him for years and years, even though we met about 5 minutes ago. When he asked me to dance, I opened my mouth to say thanks but no thanks, since I knew we were about to leave. But somehow I ended up saying yes. I knew this was crazy, but he seemed to just about sigh with relief when I agreed. We walked back through the doors and back to the dance floor without him ever taking his eyes off of me. I had no idea how he managed to not trip over his feet. I knew I would have, but all I wanted to do was get to the dance floor so I could see if this demi-god could dance as good as he looked. Because if he did, I was going to have to pack this memory away for keeps.<p>

Tonight was my last hurrah as it were. My last night of freedom and partying and all round madness. My last night living with Michelle and her parents, since the courts had decided I had to stay with the woman my brother had nominated for me to be my legal guardian in his absence. He was missing. And I was terrified.

Tomorrow would be the beginning of a whole new life for me. I was going to stay in Washington state, but so far away from Seattle that it would take me a whole day to get there by public transport. I had no car of my own yet, and I had no idea where Jason's Camaro was being stored while he was regarded as missing. Michelle was my best friend. Had been since kindergarten and I had never been away from her for more than a month in my entire life. Her parents had asked the courts to let me stay with them, but they had said the most they could do, was a few months until I had finished out the school year. And now I was moving. To La Push, Washington.

But I pushed all of this to the back of my mind while I danced with this person who seemed to hold me just right. I had never liked it when boys grabbed straight for the ass when they asked a girl to dance. It had been the reason I had begged Jason to teach me how to fight. It was like he already knew this, as he gripped my hips gently when he spun me to face him on the floor.

He was staring at me, so I quirked an eyebrow, wordlessly asking him what was up. He leaned forward and without breaking eye contact, whispered "You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen." I felt my cheeks flush.

After that, I barely kept track of the songs and all that really registered to me was the beat. We danced to a couple of fast paced ones when I distinctly heard the sound of PCD's' Magic' come on, accompanied by the DJ's voice saying "this is for Kiki who is here on her last night out with her friend Michelin" and I knew my bestie had somehow set it up so I could have this one last dance before we had to leave.

We swayed to the music, with him twirling me and twisting me until I was dizzy, but he never let me fall, not once. The song came to an end and I knew it was time to go. The moment had ended. The magic gone. I was going to walk out that door and probably never see this beautiful boy ever again.

I hugged him and then turned to walk away, thanking him for the dance. He grabbed my fingers, but so carefully it was like he was afraid I might break. "I didn't get to ask your name" he said and looked so adorably nervous, it made me smile. "I didn't get to either" I replied, thinking how corny this whole situation was.

"Its Seth" he smiled at me again. "What's it matter anyway? We're both going to walk out of here and probably never see each other again, so do we really need to know each other's names?" His face dropped as I said that, even though I hadn't been mean about it. It was the truth. "I don't care actually. I hope that's not the case. I really do want to see you again. You have no idea how much" he replied. I saw Michelle waving at me from the doors to the outside, so I knew our ride was here. "Call me Kiki" I told him as I winked and then walked away.

Once I got to the doors, I turned one last time and saw him still standing there, watching me with a stricken look on his face. I smiled and blew him a kiss as I followed Michelle into the car.

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><p><strong>AN**: Hey you guys, I know there are people reading this story so far, because I can see the number of hits. Would it be so hard for you to hit that little button and review? Its making me pretty disheartened because it feels like its not really good enough and maybe I should stop trying to finish the story.

animatedgemini - did you see the special mention I told you to watch out for? Special cookies for you for this chapter.

Is there anything in specific that you guys want to see happen in the next few chapters? I am still working on the middle section so I can try and accommodate suggestions that could fit in the storyline I imagined.

Also - I would realllllly love a suggestion for her reaction when she finds out about the wolves, because I guarantee it wont be long before she and Seth find each other again.

The sooner you guys review, the sooner I will update.


	6. Mercy

**A/N:** Hi guys, just to clarify, this is referring to Sunday, and then going into Monday, their last week of Summer Vacation. Someone mentioned in a review, that they were not sure what days these events occurred on. The club was Saturday Night.

Happy Reading!

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><p><strong>Seth POV<br>**

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><p>She left. She's gone. And I don't know where. This was the only thing running through my mind. I don't remember getting to the parking lot. I don't remember being driven home. I guess I was lucky that Brady decided to drive, because I would have probably wrapped us all around the nearest tree or telephone pole. I don't remember getting home, or my mother apparently asking me what was wrong.<p>

Leah told me this later.

I do remember staring at my ceiling and wondering why I hadn't had the presence of mind to follow her, or at least see in which direction she went. I remember Jake coming to see me the next morning. Morning? How did it get to the morning. We just got home from the club. This was weird.

I remember Jake telling me that the spirits were never wrong about this. I imprinted. How did he figure it out? That meant that wherever she was, we would find our way to each other. It was inevitable. I would just have to wait. I winced at this memory later; because that was the point I had snarled at Jake and asked him if it meant I was supposed to wait around like him and Quil. He didn't have a chance to explain or even reply to my accusation, because that was the exact point where Leah barged into my room, teeth bared and told Jake in no uncertain terms that if he ever again tried to make me feel better with poorly chosen comfort, she would personally rip him to bloodless shreds.

Wow

My sister, the protective beta of the pack. I had seen her go to bat for Quil and Embry as well over the past couple of months and I knew that despite the hell she had gone through when she first joined the pack, she had finally found her place as Jake's second in command. And even though this meant she reported to him officially, it didn't mean that she let him get away with anything she considered off color. While she was like this with our pack, it was pretty informal. With Sam's pack though, it was a little different. She could rag on all of us as much as she liked and she could take a good ribbing as well; but when it came to Sam and his pack, they were very, _very,_ careful with how far they pushed her. The twins were the only ones she treated like kid brothers, and that was because they were my best friends.

Leah had always been the fastest in the packs, but now that she had embraced being a wolf much more than before, she had learned to fight much better than she had earlier. Back then, her size meant a slight disadvantage against a wolf like Paul, or even Jared. But some time working with Jake ,and Edward, of all people, had turned her into a wolf to fear. And fear they did. Especially when Ryan had made an off-hand remark about Embry's lack of a father.

Leah was still phased at the time, as were the rest of the boys, the only difference being that now, like the two alphas, we could share thoughts, but on a limited plane. More like talking aloud. She had growled low in her throat, crossed the meadow where we were meeting, and pinned Ryan to the forest floor, before he had time to realize she had growled. He tried to shake her off, so she jumped away and then stalked him while he tried every tactic he knew to shake her. Including the ones his brothers were shouting at him. Suddenly she grew tired of him and had snarled before tackling him like a streak of grey lightening. Once she pinned him to the ground again she bared her teeth at his neck and addressed the rest of the pack as well. "One word about any of my pack, and the wise-ass who did it will be running on three legs."

And that was the last time anyone voiced the theory that Leah was any less of a wolf because she was female.

Leah was my security blanket for that entire day, because around mid-morning I had jumped up, run to the window and looked around for a car or truck or any kind of vehicle, because I had distinctly caught that same scent as I had last night. That hint of lemon with the salty sea-air behind it. Leah came into my room bringing me a bowl of soup, and just placed it on the side table, and came over to the window to stand next to me. I told her what I had sensed and she simply looked at me before putting her arms around me while my insides crumpled.

The next morning, the twins dropped by to try and cheer me up. They told me that they had explained to Jake that I had imprinted, but they had left the rest of the packs out of the secret. They had even found a way to circumvent it coming out when they were on patrol with any of the others. They had simply asked Jake to order them not to think of it when there was a chance anyone else could find out. Since Jake had always been meant to be Alpha to both packs, it had worked and none of the others had found out. I couldn't say why I felt glad that no one knew I was suffering, but I was normally so optimistic about stuff, I didn't want anyone seeing me when I felt so down.

I had spent the whole of Sunday in bed, feeling sorry for myself, so I decided that since today was Monday and I had a week before we were all back in school, I was going to do something with myself. I got as far as the kitchen for breakfast before I felt the pull of the couch, which was where Collin, Brady and I were when my mum got back in the evening.

And that was all I had managed to do all day.

I was not going to last very long. That was for sure. I kept wondering where she was, and what she might have been doing. I also wondered what her real name was. For some reason, Kiki felt like a nick-name, because there was something about the way it fit her that just didn't sit right. It was like wearing someone else's jeans. They might be the right size, but the way they fit you was off. You knew they were some-one else's.

All I could do was wait for school to start, because that meant I could throw myself into my school work and not on this gnawing at the inside of my head that felt like it was going to burst open any second. I didn't think the day would ever come when I would wait for school to begin.

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><p><strong>AN:** Please review!


	7. Surprises, Secrets & Soulmates

**K POV**

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><p>Sunday. The day of rest. The day of… oh who knew what else it was the day of. It was a day I expected to be able to sleep at least a little longer to indulge in the dream I had been having, of eyes so dark, they reminded me of onyx. And yet, eyes that seemed so gentle, I doubted their owner would have raised his voice at a stone wall.<p>

But noooo. trying to make the most of our last night together, I had agreed to share a room with Michelle. Her parents had offered to get us two, but we wanted to share. Our last time together for who knew how long. I had only met the woman I was going to stay with, a couple of times. I knew her name. Rachel Black. I knew she lived on a Reservation. It was called La Push and the closest thing to a town nearby was Forks. The name alone told me I would not be visiting there too often.

"Hey Kiki?" I heard a tentative call from the doorway, as I grumbled my way from under the covers. "Oh Michelin…" I trailed off, tears springing to my eyes at the sight of my best friend, my sister, standing in the doorway. She had a tray in her hands and was trying to get through the door as well. I remember Breakfast in Bed being her cure for any ailment related to the heart. At that thought, I couldn't help laughing at the irony of what was on the plate. Everything greasy that she could have found on the menu, was on that tray. "The really cute waiter helped me carry everything up here, and then left when I told him I wanted to bring it in to you personally" she mumbled while looking at the bedspread.

Once the tray was firmly on the stand and out of our way, I launched myself at her and hugged her so tight I was sure she couldn't breathe. I couldn't tell really, because I was equally sure that she had cut off my oxygen supply as well. "Oh God Michelin, how am I going to stand living somewhere I won't get to hear your voice every morning, trying to convert me into one of you morning people," I asked her, trying to keep the sobs out of my voice. "You are going to miss me like a crazy person and demand to move into my bedroom the second you turn 18" she sniffed back.

Just then, we both turned at the knock on the door, to see her mum peeking at us, with clearly red-rimmed eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan had been brilliant to live with. He was an online whiz and had made his money at the beginning of the Silicon Valley boom; he owned his own online protection company and spent his millions spoiling his wife and only daughter rotten. While most people made money to buy 'stuff' they could show off, the Morgans did the opposite. They lived in an average house, with maybe slightly more hi-tech gadgets, they had average cars, with the only exception being that their anti-theft systems were the best on the market, and Michelle had gotten a job after school to help pay for her own car.  
>Their only indulgence was the lavish holidays they took. They always made sure to take me along though. It was like they knew how much I wanted to belong somewhere, and after the death of my parents, Jason was all I had. We had lived with an uncle and aunt until he went away to college, and seeing how miserable I was, had prompted Michelle's parents to ask my relatives if I could live with them. They pleaded that Michelle was lonely, and this would work out well for us. My relatives had barely noticed when I moved out. They were both upset that the courts had said I had to follow the dictat my brother had left.<p>

"You girls ready to leave?" Even I could hear the tremor in her voice. I loved them all, especially the way she treated me and Michelle, like we were both her daughters and not just the red-head. "Yeah I guess so" I choked out, before flinging myself at her and hugging her much the same way I had hugged her daughter. I felt big burly arms come around the both of us from behind and I knew Mr. Morgan was in on the hugging scenario as well. "You listen to me now, munster " he called both Michelle and me that "If, at any time, you decide you want to come home, you call us, any one of us, and we will be there to get you immediately, you hear me?"

My heart clenched at the way he sad 'home' like I was a part of it as well. "Yes sir" was all I could manage. "Mum, Dad… do you think it would be ok… if I drove Kiki there… alone" Michelle haltingly enquired. "Just the two of us" Mrs. Morgan looked at her husband with a small smile on her face. "Sure sweetheart" he rumbled "Take the truck" he added before Michelle could mention a rental car. "Are you sure?" she asked with her eyes wide. Mr. Morgan hadn't let anyone else behind the wheel of his 'precious' as he called it. "Its my going away present to you both" he added, looking at Michelle directly. "You get to keep it munster, coz if my baby girl decided to make a few trips driving up here from Seattle, I need to know I can rely on her transportation."

This was the last coherent conversation we had before our goodbyes left us in a mess of tear filled eyes and choked farewells. I looked at Michelle in the driver's seat and nodded and she pulled out of the driveway. It was an hour's drive to La Push and I was dreading every second of it. Every foot we covered, was another foot away from everything I had ever known.

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><p><strong>La Push.<strong>

Rachel was going about her normal morning routine which included making sure there was enough food in the house for when a horde of hungry wolf-men came banging on the door. She rolled her eyes; Jacob and Embry had moved into a tiny cottage down the road from her father's house, but they still ate here. 'Oh well,' she shrugged to herself, 'at least they did their dishes before they left each time.'

Just then she heard a truck pull up in front of the house and she frowned to herself. She didn't know any of the boys, except for Jake, who had a truck, and he wouldn't have driven here when it would have been faster to walk. For him anyway. She was even further surprised when she heard a tentative knock on the door. Truly mystified now, she wiped her hands on the towel she had picked up, and approached the living room. Putting a smile on her face, she opened the door and found two teenage girls standing there. One, the brunette, looked strangely familiar, and had a small duffel bag with her, while the other, a red-head, looked like she was about to burst into tears any second.

"Yeah? How can I help you guys?" she asked. The brunette swallowed hard and then held out a letter. "I don't know if you remember me, we met a few times when I visited my brother at college" she started out hesitantly. "Oh my goodness, yes I did, THAT's where I've seen you" Rachel laughed. "I knew you were familiar but I just couldn't place you. Please, please, come on in, I was just about to start lunch, are you guys hungry?" "We already ate thanks" came the rejoinder. "Umm, Kiki, if its ok, I am just going to head back right away. I want to get back before… before it gets too hard to leave" choked out the red-head.

Rachel looked on in confusion. "You guys want to tell me what's going on?" she asked. "Yeah I can explain, just let me say good bye first?" "Sure sure" Rachel replied. The two girls walked to the porch. "I love you Kiki-meister" "I love you more Michelin. Call me the second you get back to the hotel ok?" and with that Michelle hopped back in the truck and pulled out of the driveway, even though she knew the other girl had seen her tears.

Rachel had watched this whole exchange, and took this chance to step onto the porch. She looked at the girl and said "Well, I saw the bag, so I'm guessing you might need to crash for a while, but could you maybe tell me what is going on now? I'm going out of my mind a bit here." The girl's sad eyes cut Rachel to the quick as she turned her gaze away from the empty driveway. "Of Course, but can we talk inside please?" "Of course honey, come with me" Rachel said as she put her arm around the girl.

Once they were sitting inside, Rachel grabbed herself a cup of coffee and made them both comfortable on the couch before turning expectantly to her guest. "Umm… well, I guess I don't know where to begin" she started. "I thought they might have written you to explain, but since you were so surprised to see me, I see they might not have." "Actually a lot of my mail that was sent to me, ended up going to my dorm at the University and some of it has taken a longer time to get forwarded than the others" clarified Rachel. "Oh I see" murmured the girl. "But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. How is Jason? I haven't heard from him in months, I didn't want to contact him because… well.. he was working on a particular project, that… sort of.. discouraged distractions actually."

There were those sad eyes again, thought Rachel. "That's why I'm here really," she said softly. "Jason is… missing, I guess would be the word to use" Rachel paled at this. "He left a letter saying that since he was my legal guardian, if anything were to happen to him, he wanted me placed under your guardianship, at least until I became a major. I'm sorry. I thought you might have been expecting me. The judge said I wasn't allowed to stay with Michelle and her parents anymore… that I had to follow what was outlined in the procedure… and then he said I could stay to finish out my school year, and now that its done.. I had to move here… I even got my enrollment in school sorted out… and…" she trailed off and Rachel knew the girl was struggling through her tears. So she got up, went to her and hugged her.

"Honey, you can stay here as long as you like. Would you give me a minute while I read that letter?" "Sure" came the teary reply. Rachel took the letter, stepped into the kitchen and read through it. It was an official court document that had all the usual legalese that translated into the fact that this youngster was supposed to stay here and that was it. Unless Rachel granted permission otherwise. Rachel considered it for a moment. Could she deny this girl the chance to live somewhere she was obviously happy? Before she could voice that idea, she noticed that there had been something enclosed with the official missive. It was a personal note that Jason had included in his statement that Rachel was to be his sister's guardian.

_Rachel,_

_I know if Munchkin turns up on your doorstep , it means something might have happened to me. I have noticed that, on the past few runs I have made, on our special 'project' that someone might have recognized me or followed me on more than one occasion. She lives in Seattle, and while I know she loves it here, I am worried that if anything does happen to me, they can trace my connection to her as well. You talk about your home town with so much love in your eyes, that I have to ask you to do this for me. Please, let her stay with you. Please. Keep her safe Rach. There is no one else I can trust._

_La Push is small enough, from what you have told me, that a stranger would be noticed, and that would be more than enough to prevent anyone getting too close to finding my sister. I told Kid where he might be able to find you, just in case. And I have known him for far too long to consider him a threat. Please Rachel. Keep her safe._

_J_

Wiping away the tears that she didn't realize she had shed, she went back to the living room and sat down next to the now composed girl. "Well, maybe we should start this off right" she smiled "I'm Rachel, but feel free to call me Rach, everyone else does." Her reply was a small tentative smile and "My best friend calls me Kiki" "Well love, let's get you settled in ok? You can have Jake's room, I turned it into a guest room since he moved out, and it's a good enough size for one person. I know it might be hard for you to stay here, leaving your life in Seattle, but will you trust me when I say, your brother was just thinking of how to keep you safe?" "Safe from what though?" she asked with a tired curiosity that broke Rachel's heart.

They had walked into Jake's old room by then, and Rachel beckoned her to sit down on the bed. As she sat next to her she took her hand and said "What I am about to tell you has to stay between the both of us. A lot of people's safety could be at risk." Rachel waited until she nodded to continue "Jason and I were both part of a group that… well I guess you could say… we helped out a particular government agency in very minor roles. Sometimes that could attract a little danger as well, but nothing for you to worry about" she added when she saw the fear appear in the girl's eyes. "It was very basic. Practically desk work but this is just his way of trying to keep you safe." She waited until the girl nodded, and then asked, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Since your best friend calls you Kiki, don't you think I should call you something else? I don't want to steal her nickname. Would your real name do?" "Of course Rach" she was rewarded with a small smile. "Kaia it is then" Rachel replied as she left the room. "I'll let you get settled in, and come get you for lunch ok?" she called as she walked down the hallway.

Once in the kitchen, she heaved a deep breath and thanked the Spirits that Billy and Charlie were on talking terms again, so Billy had spent the night there, bonding over old football games. Realizing she was shaky, recalling the last couple of stressed out months in Seattle, at University, she resolved to go for a quick walk down to the beach. She left Kaia a note, telling her this, and then strode for the door, grabbing her jacket on the way out. Once she closed the door behind her, she took a deep shuddering breath and bit back a sob as she turned to face the stairs. And that was when her heart stopped.

Right at the edge of the porch, standing on the bottom stairs, were two extremely large, extremely angry looking men. Their expressions were identical, encompassing fear, worry, and overall confusion. It would have been amusing to Rachel to see them both adopt even the same stance; arms folded across their bare chests, shorts slung low and barefoot, if she hadn't known why they were so angry. Damn their superhuman wolf hearing.

Sighing, Rachel turned to her brother and her imprint, "Come on, I know you guys heard all that, so you might as well get the whole story. But not here. I was going to take a walk on the beach."

After exchanging a look between them, they turned to follow her on the path that led to the beach.

What exactly had Rachel Black been upto while in Seattle?

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><p>AN: So the stage is set. and you FINALLY know Seth's imprint's real name.

What exactly has Rachel gotten herself into?  
>Could this expose the secrets La Push has hidden for generations?<br>Who exactly is Jason and why does he need Rachel to hide his sister?  
>What was the project he mentioned and more importantly, how are Paul and Jake going to react now that they know their imprint and sister has been keeping secrets of her own from them?<p>

Staaaay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel... oh wait, wrong announcement...

Hoping to see more reviews up here soon. Special shout out to 'GByrd' for my very first review. Yaaaaaaay, virtual cookies for you and watch out for your guest appearance soon!


	8. Explanations don't always explain things

Paul and Jacob exchanged glances before turning to follow Rachel down the pathway that lead to the beach. They kept a few feet behind her, as she cut across the parking lot and took a short-cut over the pebble strewn section of the shoreline, before she came to a tiny isolated cove that most tourists missed. They were guaranteed some privacy here. Struggling to keep her composure, Rachel stopped at a small rock formation and turned to face them. Their faces were identical. Like they had been cut from stone; and their expressions were definitely the work of some kind of sculpture. Ice, maybe.

Being used to having Paul as her shoulder to lean on, she automatically reached forward a little to take his hand, but he pointedly folded his arms across his chest and continued to watch her in silence. He was barely able to keep his face from falling when he saw the hurt in her eyes; but this was followed by dismay as he saw how quickly her eyes shuttered and become masks. As if she refused to let him know how she was feeling. He hated himself for hurting her and the imprint pull was becoming almost unbearable, so he knew she was definitely hurting inside; and hurting bad, if his own discomfort was any indication. But this was something that terrified him. He and Jacob had both headed to Rachel's like they usually did for lunch on Sunday afternoon. But they had stopped short when they had seen a truck racing out of her driveway with a crying girl at the wheel. They had moved towards the house but were again distracted by the conversation their super human hearing had picked up. Now they had nothing but questions. Government agencies? Covert operations? Danger, bad enough to force a young girl into hiding?

What exactly was Rachel hiding?  
>They waited for her to collect herself as she sat herself on one of the rocks and wrapped her arms around her knees.<p>

She took a deep breath and began to speak.

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><p><strong>RACHEL POV<strong>

"Jason and I were classmates at college. We had about 3 different classes together and one day we realized that our dorms were next door to each other as well." I smiled as I recalled the gentle demeanor Jason had, and his impeccable manners. "He asked me out, and we went on a couple of dates." I heard Paul growl at that and felt a twinge of satisfaction. After the way he refused to even come near me a few minutes ago, maybe a little dose of jealousy would do him good. "But things felt weird, so we laughed it off and just stayed friends. Now THAT worked for us like a charm. We were so close that nothing was an off limits topic for us. He was there for me every time the anniversary of mom's death came around, and he was the one that convinced me that visiting her grave would help me heal." I thought of how hard it had been for me to accept that, and how patient he had been when talking it over with me. "I went up to Seattle with him when he lost his parents, and helped him sort out his plans with his little sister. She's up at the house right now actually. He practically worshipped the ground she walked on. He has since she was born. And strangely enough, she wasn't one bit spoiled by that fact."

I remember laughing at his panic that she was starting to date, and he wasn't at home to interrogate and intimidate every boy in the vicinity. And his ultimate relief when I pointed out the pattern he hadn't noticed. After every single date, no matter how late it was, she would always call him to tell him how it went. Not her girlfriends, but him. Every single time. That was what finally relaxed him. I shook my head and tried to focus on the topic of my current interrogation by my sibling and my soulmate. "Anyway, sometime last year, around the end of the semester, there was an aptitude test that the university required all students take. We didn't know it at the time, but the agency running the test was not a psychological mapping survey, but the DEA. There were quite a few busts around the time and there was one particular ring at the university that seemed to have made it through every trap that was set. The profiling they did, pointed out characteristics that they were looking for, in people they wanted to sign up."

I raised my hands to stop both Jake and Paul from interrupting me. Jake looked beyond pissed that I was wrapped up in something dangerous and Paul… well Paul just looked terrified. Come to think of it, I had never even seen him look mildly worried before, including the time that those Italian leeches had paid our neighborhood a visit. Well that was a strange look on him. Jake stopped whatever he was going to say, but the look on Paul's face suggested that he was simply saving it to say it later.

"It was a lot of information gathering actually. Not real leg work or anything. Its not like we were ever agents or part of an actual DEA team. A lot of people were only used a couple of times, until they became unsuitable to contact. Only a few of us stayed with the project until the end of the year… Jason, his best friend Michael, and me. Kid and I used to…" I trailed off at the way both their heads jerked up and I realized my mistake. "Kid was Michael's nickname. The agent we reported to was also named Michael so it just became easier to call our Michael Kid. See, Kid had an agenda. He wanted to see those guys go down for personal reasons. That was why they were careful not to use him if there was any chance of contact with the actual dealers. Kid was dating this girl in freshman year. They had gone to high school together and everything. Anyway, freshman year, and about halfway through the first semester, there was this party at a friend's, Kid got sick and couldn't make it, but he told her to go ahead. Long story short, someone spiked her drink with what turned out to be bad drugs. She died on the way to the hospital. Kid took it pretty hard. It made him mad. That doesn't always help you keep a level head."

I felt like I was watching this all on a replay in my mind. I could see Kid and Sandra, yeah that was her name, introducing themselves to me, when Jason and I had double dated with them once. Sandra seemed pretty shy at first but warmed up soon enough. It was less than a month later that she had died. Jason and I had already made up our minds to stay friends instead of dating anymore and I remember him calling me from the hospital, asking me to keep an eye on his classes for him, because he was staying with Michael. It was funny how quickly we took to calling him Kid, maybe because Sandra was the only one who called him Michael instead of Mike or any other shortened form of his name. Kid was just a way to make everything easier for us; no dredging up her memory just by saying his name.

I was getting distracted again. "So the month before I got home from college, Mike told us that they were winding operations up, since they didn't want to endanger us. They had this feeling that the ring leaders were beginning to get suspicious. There was one last run they wanted us to do. It was my turn this time, but I had come down with the mother of all colds. Jason had come by my dorm to drop off my package that I was supposed to be carrying… and when he saw me… " I started to choke on this part "… he insisted on going instead. 'you would probably pass out before you got out the door' he said" I wiped away the tears forming in my eyes and shot Paul a glare when it looked like he might step forward. "And then what" asked Jake, even though I could see the hardness in his eyes had faded to concern. "And then… that was it. I never saw him again. He never contacted any of the team, and he never contacted me either. We don't know what happened to him. I was told to pack up and come home 3 weeks later, to stick with my routine, except for reporting him missing, and to just act normal, not draw attention to myself." By now the tears were flowing freely and I did nothing to stop them.

"So now what?" asked Jake, all pretence at anger gone; nothing but worry and concern in his dark eyes. "Now, well, now his kid sister has to stay with me for a while. Jason named me her guardian, said he was worried for her safety. Asked me to keep her here, because it's a small enough town that strangers would be noticed. Especially strangers that come around looking for a young girl." Paul stepped forward then, as if to take me in his arms, and I couldn't have that. Not after how he hurt me earlier, acting like I was in the wrong when he didn't even know the whole story. I slipped off the rock I was perched on and stepped away from him, ignoring the pain in his eyes; wondering if he felt this wrench I was feeling right now. I decided to go back and check on Kaia. But I couldn't resist leaving these two with something to think about. So just before I walked away I spoke over my shoulder, not even bothering to face them as I did so.

"Tell me how it's fair, when you guys have your secrets to keep, and I don't get to keep mine. He saved my life. My best friend and he probably died when it should have been me on that run."

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><p><strong>AN:** So this chapter I just wanted to build up a little back story of what Rachel had been upto and the relationship between her and Jason, and her life before the mayhem of imprinting. Also, I just felt that the guys would react in typical guy fashion. Quick quiz. There is another important event coming up soon. The next few chapters in fact. What do you think it is?

Don't forget to review folks !


	9. Agencies and Agendas

Hey there. One of my awesome reviewers mentioned that Rachel's explanation might not have been very clear. Apologies, apologies. Hopefully this interlude chapter in her POV will help clear up the blank spots. The chapter switches back and forth between present time and flashbacks, but all are still in her POV, so hopefully it shouldn't be too confusing. Let me know if you like it.

As always, lots of love for reviews and special thanks to 'GByrd' and 'Mythical Words' for reviewing so far. As anyone attempting to be a writer knows, reviews and feedback are always welcome.

Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Rachel POV <strong>

I walked back to the house, tears blurring my vision for most of the way. It was a wonder I didn't fall off a cliff, although somewhere in the back of my mind, a little voice said that Paul would kill himself before allowing anything of the sort to happen to me. And then I shut the voice up by remembering how it had hurt when Paul had not even taken my hand, let alone held me. The voice replied that he had no idea what was going on with me. I had told no-one what had gone on in Seattle. What had happened in University. The kind of trouble that had come up. The number of times we had seen friends hospitalized, or worse, because of bad drugs. Drugs they didn't always take on their own.

We had only learned the cause of this much, much later. The drug rings that had controlled operations in our part of town had decided that testing their new cocktails and combinations were best done on subjects with no expectations. Subjects who had no pre-conceived notions of what would happen upon ingestion. In other words, subjects who had no idea they were being slipped drugs; in their drinks, in their food sometimes. There was even a case where someone had substituted medication with a different kind of pills. The DEA had become aware of the situation very quickly and even though they had their share of busts and triumphs, the cases only slowed down, never stopped. So they had gone further.

I still remember that morning's class like it was yesterday. Jason and I had both been half asleep. Me because I had pulled an all-nighter studying and Jason because he had been visiting his sister at home and had driven back very early that morning. After losing both their parents in a horrific car crash, the two of them were closer than ever. The sorrow of a double loss had bound them both tighter than most normal siblings ever would be. The professor was very peevish when he entered class and we soon found that it was because normal lessons were being suspended for the day. That perked us up. Instead, there was a Psychological Survey group that wanted to study our demographics' reaction to certain situations; this was to somehow aid the professors in some new way or the other. None of us really cared to listen to that part. All we heard was no class today because of some test we didn't need to pass.

3 weeks later, a few of us were called into the counselor's office under the pretence of discussing our futures after graduation. Instead, what we each found upon entry, was an officer of the DEA sitting with another counselor and the Dean. They had explained to us individually, that we had been hand-picked by the agency, to help them in their investigation. If we were uncomfortable, we could leave right away. If we were willing to help, we were to meet later that afternoon at a coffee-shop near campus. When I had got back to my dorm after saying I would help, I found Jason waiting for me, looking troubled. He asked if we could talk and suggested we stay outside to do it.

"Rach, there's something I need to tell you" he finally said. "Sure Jason, what's up?" I asked, nervous myself after the surreal experience in the counselor's office. "You will probably think I'm nuts, but I just got called to the counselor's office and … well… I don't know how to say this.. but" "The agency?" I interrupted. "Yes, how did… oh God, they called you too?" his face paled. "Yeah, so what do we do?" I asked him. "Well, you remember Sandra right? Michael's almost girlfriend, freshman year?" "Yeah, of course, didn't we double date once?" "That's the one. You remember how she got sick at that party? When she died the hospital called it an overdose? Well, this has something to do with it. She and Michael were friends even in high school, and while they might not have worked out as a couple, he genuinely liked her. Mike's my best friend, Rach, and they called him in as well. He hasn't forgotten Sandra, and he said he was in. For sure. "

I watched Jason's face for his emotions. He had always been easy to read. Michael had been his best friend for years, and he had known the girl Sandra in high school as well. So he could feel the helpless rage that had gripped Michael as he watched the girl buried. Knowing that she had been murdered. A lab experiment gone wrong. "But what are they talking about Jason, what kind of help? I keep expecting cameras to show up and people laughing telling us we're on some kind of candid camera show." I told him. "I'm guessing, we'll just have to show up and find out Rach."

We had gone to the coffee shop, along with Michael, and we avoided looking at any of the other tables, while grabbing a corner booth to ourselves. According to Michael, if they wanted us, they could come get us. We were not going to advertise our presence, either way. "It's not like we can go prancing up to each table asking them if they are DEA, right?" he retorted. That was when, the door opened and this young couple had come in, holding each other and laughing. They looked around, spotted our table and ambled over. "May we join you guys?" the male asked, while we looked at them quizzically. "Umm, sure?" said Jason, ever the polite one, with a truly confused expression on his face. They sat down and the girl introduced them. "Agent Ashley Shaw… and this is Agent Michael Fitzsimmons" they both smiled as they saw our jaws drop. "Just call us by our first names, we don't want any confusion now, do we?" stated Agent Fitzsimmons.

BANG! BANG!

I was startled out of my reminiscing, by Paul banging on my front door. I scowled, before walking to it, and yanking it open. I felt my features soften slightly at his anguished expression. "Rach, baby, I'm so sorry. I just… I just want to know what happened. I can't make sense of any of this. I'm trying, I reallllly reallllly am, but DEA? Secret assignments? People going missing? How… I don't know… I don't even know how to wrap my head around all this." I just watched him speak with a cold expression. When he trailed off, I knew he had sensed my unforgiving mood. "Leave me alone Paul. I need some time to myself. I don't think it's a good idea for you to spend the night tonight. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked, before shutting the door. I checked in on Kaia and realized that she had fallen asleep, still in her clothes and had probably been like that for a while. I smiled softly at her sleeping figure, before going into the kitchen and making her a sandwich. Putting it in the fridge, I left her a note where she would see it if she woke up.

Going into my bedroom, I took a long hot shower and then climbed into bed, knowing my mind would lead back to that day in the coffee shop. We had talked for a long time; anyone looking over at our table would have seen nothing, but a bunch of friends chatting. Both the Michaels had been adept at keeping the conversation from dropping to depressing levels, which it could easily have done.

"Now, you guys don't need to worry. The things we need from you aren't going to put you, or your friends, in the firing line. Its mostly paying attention. Keeping your eyes and ears open. If you see, or hear anything that seems off, let us know about it. If somebody is suddenly behaving out of the ordinary. Someone who is usually broke, starts flashing a lot of cash, stuff like that." "Informants" grunted our Michael. "Sure Kid, if that's how you look at it" said the older Michael, studying the younger with a practiced eye. He nodded then, as if he liked what he saw. "You've got grit kid. I'll give you that" he added. "Would you stop calling me that?" asked Michael exasperatedly. "Its your new nickname buddy boy. I got to the planet before you did. Therefore, I get first dibs on a common name, and YOU get to have the nickname. Kid." We had all laughed at that, and it was funny how quickly we had gotten used to calling him that as well.

By now I was clutching my pillow and crying softly, the tension of the past few months getting to me. It had been easier to repress it before I had come face to face with the sister of my favorite memory. I heard scuffling under my window and then a whimper; like an animal in pain. I raised my voice to just above a whisper, knowing that would be loud enough. "Go away Paul. Just go away and leave me alone." And then I cried myself to sleep.

The next morning, when I woke up, eyes all puffy, I walked into the dining room to see Kaia sitting across a bowl of cereal with my father, both extolling the virtues of Chevrolet, the Camaro in particular. Billy was teasing her, saying that kids nowadays didn't know what classic cars really were. She retorted that old men couldn't be expected to appreciate the joys of rebuilding a car older than the rebuilder. I was glad that Billy seemed to have found the official letter, and the one from Jason, that I had left on his bed before going to sleep last night. He had accepted Kaia's presence with an equanimity that was solely his.

Jake wandered in just then, ignoring the two at the table, walking up to me and enveloping me in a huge warm hug. "I love you Rach… no matter what secrets we each have to keep." And then he turned to a wide-eyed Kaia. " Jacob Black. Billy's son, Rachel's brother, and hungry as a wolf" I noticed the twinkle in his eye at that last bit. It was good to have my little brother back. Bad jokes and all. I rolled my eyes, knowing he would want food any second. "Er Rach…" "Yeah yeah… waffles coming up." I interrupted. I turned back to the table to see him smiling back at me. "Have I told you you're my favorite sister?" "I'll make sure to mention that to Becca when I talk to her later, shall I?" I grinned. He paled. "Hell No… she's the one with those pictures. Nope Nope Nope. " I noticed Kaia watching our exchange with a wistful expression on her face. Then she shook her head and grinned mischeviously. "Would those be embarrassing pictures Mr. Jacob Black?" He looked at her warily, before replying with "Maybe, what's it to you squirt?"

I glared at him, but Kaia seemed glad that she was being included in the banter. "You mean more embarrassing than, say, pictures of you in… what was that again Rach? A sarong? No, that can't be right" she continued in a fake soft voice, as if talking to herself. "Oh yeah, a mumu, isn't that what they are called? Coconut shells and all. I have to say Mr. Black, you might have impressive muscles, but those shells were pretty strategically placed." By now, Billy and me were in splits and Kaia looked close to joining us. Jacob just stared at her in horror, before turning to me. "YOU have those?" "Let's just say that Becca and I discovered the advantage of having electronic copies that you can't possibly _sniff _out" I told him, emphasizing the reference to his superhuman senses. He mock-glared at the both of us and then deadpanned. "I should feed you both to the wolves. Really. But even they might not want you."

"I know one who would" I heard a low voice from the doorway. Knowing who would be there, I turned. "Paul" I nodded. He looked terrible. Worse than I felt. I remembered Jake telling me that the wolves who imprinted could always tell when their imprint was sad, or upset, or even hurt. I guess they felt those emotions as well. I knew I couldn't stay angry with him, not when all he did was worry about me. I stretched out my hand and he took it, before pulling me to him and burying his face in my hair and muttering that he was sorry. And telling me how much he loved me. I looked around him, to see that Jake and Kaia had quietly decamped from the kitchen, taking Dad with them, giving my wolf and me some much needed privacy.

I knew it was time to explain myself. It was no longer about keeping the secret. It was keeping this wolf-man-boy before me, sane. Something he woudn't have a chance at, if he didn't know the truth. "The beach" I murmured to him. "Ok" was his reply, then he took my hand and led me out the door. "Jake, Rach and I are heading to the beach" he muttered under his breath, as if Jake was standing right next to him. I rolled my eyes again, scoffing at my little brother and his fellow superheroes. It was my coping mechanism, my only way to deal with the fantasy that was their everyday reality.

I noticed that we were heading back to the same cove as the previous day, and I smiled to myself a little. We reach the same outcropping of rock, and Paul turned to me, looked me in the eye and said "Yesterday, when you said you had to talk to us, I was nervous, worried even, because there was something I didn't know about you. Something you knew, but didn't tell me. Something I couldn't keep you safe from. And it was tearing me up inside. And like an idiot, I took it out on you. I'm sorry Rach. I mean, I'm not like Jake, or even Embry, they can talk about how they feel, you know? Explain themselves. Me on the other hand, it was always easier to just act. I guess the reason I've got a short fuse is getting pretty obvious right about now isn't it?"  
>I just stayed quiet and watched him as he took a deep breath and then stepped forward, holding me against him, my hands splayed out against his chest. He reached up with his left hand, and wrapped my right hand in it. "I'm a do-er, not a talker Rach. If you ever have to tell me anything ever again, I swear I will listen and not be an idiot about it. You don't HAVE to tell me everything, but I would love it if you did." He paused and took a deep breath. "I love you."<p>

And just like that, I found myself leaning up against him, my head in that perfect place below his chin, where it seemed to fit just right; telling him about everything that had happened during the last year. I didn't notice when he had moved to sit on the rock, and when he had lifted me into his lap. I didn't noticed the time that was passing. All I saw in front of my eyes was the replay of everything significant about my big secret, everything that I hadn't told him before, as it all came pouring out of my memory. When I was done I simply stayed in that position, his arms around me, as I knew they always would be, keeping me safe, as I knew he always would be.

"And that was all you guys had to do?" he asked softly. "Yeah pretty much" I replied. "So… no guns, no secret codes?" I could practically hear his smile. I punched his shoulder weakly and muttered "Its not like the movies you idiot, we just helped out. That was why I got mad when you freaked. We were like data builders. Just providing tips, or helpful hints on what might have been subjects of interest to the DEA. You know how those anonymous tiplines work?" He nodded. "Like that, except that since they had picked us out from that survey they ran, they knew our information was reliable. Now do you get it?" He just smiled, even though I could see the relief in his eyes.

"Paul?"

"Yeah baby?"

"I love you too."

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><p><strong>AN: ** Just so that everything is clear in the time-line I imagined when I thought of this, this chapter starts on Sunday afternoon and runs into Monday late morning. The next couple of chapters will make it obvious why I want the timeline this marked out.

Love and virtual cookies to all you readers. I promise to send you special wolf kisses (from your shapeshifter of choice) for reviews. Now go right ahead and push that button. You know you want to!


	10. Take a Deep Breath

**A/N: **Hey there, just a quick note to say that this chapter and the next were originally one long chapter, and while I don't like so much on one page, I also didn't think it was fair to post it at different times. So, here you go, back to back chapters of HATM.

Also, I am running a blog on this story as well, and if you are unable to comment or review here, I would be glad to talk about the story one-on-one over there. The link is on my profile page, and you guys will be glad to know that the pictures are up there as well, so no more trouble with the Picasa link not allowing comments. Yaaay.

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><p><strong>Tuesday<strong>

Jake and Embry ambled along the road to Billy's place, knowing that Rachel would definitely have breakfast ready by this time in the morning, especially since Paul had definitely spent the night. Paul had begged off patrols the past two nights to beg Rachel to forgive him. Meanwhile, the twins had asked Jake to keep them and Seth off patrol for a day or two since he had been freaking out, and Jake made sure to keep the secret of his imprinting from the rest of the packs.

"Oh well" stated Embry, "Paul has probably begged, pleaded, bribed, coaxed, persuaded and if all else failed… just…" "Dude, just stop that sentence right there PLEASE. You realize this is my sister we are talking about?," Jake interrupted. "Hmm yeah, forgot that for a second" came the snickered reply. "Forget things like that the next time I give you back to back patrols" grumbled his Alpha. "Oh lighten up Big Chief Fat Ass," Embry rolled his eyes. They continued in this vein as they wandered into the kitchen and plonked themselves into the closest chairs they found. They were interrupted by a yawn and the sound of the door to Jake's old room swinging close. Embry looked quizzically at Jake, wondering who the visitor was. Jake just looked at him blankly, revealing nothing about the newcomer. Just then the door to the kitchen swung open and a very sleepy Kaia entered the kitchen.

She paused mid-yawn, and then blinked and rubbed her eyes. Then she smiled and addressed Jake. "Morning Black, for a second there I thought there was two of you. Good thing it was just my imagination. Can you imagine double your ugliness?" she shuddered theatrically. "You sure are chipper this morning. What happened to the tale you told me about not smiling before noon." Jake pointed out. "Shush now little one, we have company" she replied turning to an extremely amused Embry, and speaking with a thick Spanish accent, "Buenos Dias Signoor" she batted her eyelashes at the now helpless bundle of laughter, that was Embry. "Err Jake, you might want to get your twin person off the floor. He might hurt it with all that flailing he's doing." This set Embry off even more, and it was a good few minutes later that he finally got up off the floor, only to nearly collapse again at the sight before him. Kaia sat on the counter, legs folded Indian style, nursing a cup of coffee, with milk and sugar if his nose was any judge; while Jake glared at her from the other end of the table. The reason for the glaring became pretty obvious, when he noticed that every other sip, Kaia would look up and stick her tongue out while waggling her eyebrows at him.

"Ahh yes, the geegling man has stopped. Perhaps Seegnor Black, you can introdoos us now?" she continued in her ridiculous mockery of the Spanish accent, which only served to set off Embry all over again. He was able to stop after a minute or so this time, to find both Jake and Kaia watching him with a kind of curious fascination that made it hard for him to not start laughing all over again. "He is really REALLY easy to amuse isn't he? Was he dropped or something as a child? Do you know Jake?" "Hey hey now" protested Embry, "This is a little too much to take on an empty stomach." Jake laughed before making introductions. "Kaia Reynolds, this is Embry Call. Kaia is going to be staying with us for a while, Embry has been one of my best friends since we all learned to walk. And now that you two know who the other is, can someone tell me where my sister is?" "Yeah, not that its not pleasant to meet you K-ster, but are we getting fed anytime soon?" Embry chimed in.

Kaia just sniggered and then added, "Oh this should be good. Paul picked up Rachel last night, around 8, and said they would see us when they saw us. I take it no-one has done any seeing yet, so you minions are at my mercy for breakfast this morning. Mwahahahahaha" she trailed off when the two giants in the kitchen just stared at her. "Yeah ok… you need to get used to the evil laugh, so, you guys hungry?" "She doesn't really know us very well, does she" asked Embry, in an extremely loud stage whisper. Kaia just rolled her eyes and then oophed when a large, extremely warm arm dropped around her shoulder, and Embry's voice sounded above her head. "Anytime you feel like feeding a pack of wild dogs, you just give us a call ok?" and with that he and Jake burst into laughter again, while Kaia proceeded to pull out a couple of onions, tomatoes, peppers and other herbs, ignoring them completely. The boy's laughter trailed off as she withdrew from the fridge holding 3 eggs. "Umm Kaia, you DO plan on feeding us starving people as well right. Please?" asked Jake. "Yes, please oh please feed us starving minions too, O great Spanish mangler."

She sniffed. "Hmph, fine mongrels, but ONLY because I am making breakfast for Billy too," she warned. The boys just grinned at her and then looked at the eggs she had placed in a bowl. "Umm Kai, you might want to add a few more eggs to that mix." She stopped chopping onions and turned to look at them in suspicion. "How many more?" Jake looked sheepish, and then opened the fridge again, taking out an entire carton of eggs. Kaia just looked at them both, and then shook her head. "I'm not surprised, ok minions, you" she pointed to Jake, "wash those peppers for me, and you" she pointed at Embry, who was sneaking out the door to the living room, "Clean the rest of the onions and then start mixing eggs into this bowl."

Jake and Embry looked at each other in amusement at the pint sized autocrat giving them orders, and then, as one, they turned to her and snapped a Hitler Nazi salute and proceeded to do as she said, neither one noticing Billy's laughter from the Living room doorway. Paul and Rachel walked in on this particular scene just then, only to practically collapse with laughter at the aprons Kaia had forced the boys to wear. "Embry my man, pink with ruffles have got to be your new thing" guffawed Paul, as Rachel simply held on to him to avoid falling to the floor; pointing at Jake and his Bikini motif apron while the two hams simply posed and acted like they were on a runway for couture aprons.

The laughing ceased immediately, however, the second they heard the sizzle of the eggs in the pan; as one they turned to watch Kaia as she concentrated solely on the stove and the pan on top of it. Barely a few minutes later, she was dishing out fluffy omelettes on plates for each of them. The differences in the sizes of the omelettes was laughable, as she had foreseen that Paul would probably eat like them, once she had caught sight of his large frame. There was utter silence as they tucked into the platters in front of them. Embry was the first to finish. While the others watched, he pushed back his chair, stalked to where Kaia was perched on the counter, and knelt in front of her. "Anytime my lady decides to feed us unworthy minions again, I will be more than happy to volunteer my services to carry the groceries." "Hmph" came the reply, "I refuse to accept anything less than slave for life." "Done" and then she and Embry proceeded to make up the most ridiculous, complicated handshake which left the others in the kitchen shaking their heads at the way two teenagers could act like two toddlers.

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><p><strong>Wednesday<strong>

"Hey Jake," came a deep voice down the phone line, "Hiya Sam, what's up man?" replied Jake, cradling the phone between his shoulder and ear. "Listen, the twins and Seth have both been off patrols the past couple of days, is everything ok with them?" came Sam's query. Jake sighed, knowing he would have to resort to a white lie or two to keep Seth's secret. "Sam, I'm going to be honest, Seth is having some trouble with something, and the twins have been practically camped out at the Clearwater's the past couple of days. Collin and Brady are the only thing keeping Seth from going wolf and disappearing at the moment, so I'm going to have to ask you to keep letting it slide." "I see. I guess you can't tell me what's going on either, can you?" asked Sam, with an underlying layer of concern, showing how much he cared about the cubs in the pack. "Not that I can't tell you Sam, it's just that I can't tell you YET. I promise I will, just not yet." "But they're ok?" persisted the older boy. "The twins, yes, Seth, not as much, but believe me, it will sort itself out soon enough." "Ok Jake, but if anythings wrong with any one of them…" "I'll call you. I swear" replied Jake, smiling at the fierce protective streak of his outwardly aggressive, former Alpha. "Yeah yeah, now wipe that grin off your face, I don't have to be there to know how stupid you probably look" came Sam's voice again, before they said their goodbyes.

Jacob stood on the porch, wondering if he was doing the right thing; preventing Seth from taking off that night, on a blind search for a girl he had danced with, seemed the best course of action at the time. Jake was a firm believer in the theory that what was meant to happen, would happen. His life was a prime example of that; he had spent so much time chasing Bella, but until he had stopped and let things happen on their own time, he had been deprived of his imprint. The second he had stopped resisting the fact that Bella and Edward were meant to be, life had taken its destined course and his imprint had come to him. But there was a reason that the girl had slipped away from Seth that night, maybe some unfinished business on her part, or maybe she wasn't ready for their world yet.

Jake smiled to himself, his mind sure now.  
>He had done the right thing.<p>

If this girl was meant for his Beta's younger brother, she would show up.

If only he knew she already had.

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><p><strong>AN: **Review review review !


	11. And Then Jump

**A/N:** Just make sure you review!

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><p><strong>Thursday<strong>

"OK. That's it. We have all waited this long for Seth to snap out of whatever funk he is in. We have waited long enough. Gather yourselves troops, we are heading to the cliffs," proclaimed Embry to the rest of the kitchen table; the occupants of which just studied him calmly. "Oh fine, fiiiiine, the midget here squawks in the worst imitation of a Spanish accent I have ever heard, and you all look at me like I'm crazy." They all laughed and Jake added "Hey Kai, maybe you should set one less place at the table tomorrow morning." The disgruntled look on Embry's face faded to outright panic, as he looked at Kaia and shrieked in abject terror. "You wouldn't! Not your most faithful minion oh great omelette Goddess." Kaia pretended to think while Embry was prostrate on the ground in front of her, the lunacy of the moment not really striking anyone present. Between the antics of Embry and Kaia, their morning routines had already seen a couple of these episodes.

"Sure sure, just call me the ever merciful McSquizzy," quipped Kaia, turning to the sink. Because of that, she was the only one who missed Embry's reaction. He stiffened and then eyes wide, he reached out, took Kaia by the shoulder and turned her around. "It was you! The blonde creep at the club… Holy hell it was you" Kaia just stared at Embry, eyebrows furrowed. Then suddenly her face cleared and she gaped at him, "Oh my GOD… you are the life-saver from Planet Gigantor… how could I not recognize you?" "Well, bad lighting, crazy smoke machines, not to mention that you are probably pretty unobservant most times," came Embry's nonchalant reply. "Wow, talk about a small world," said Kaia. They had to then explain to the rest of the confused table, the whole story of how Embry and Kaia had met, and Paul realized that he would have recognized her, if he hadn't been so distracted by his and Rachel's disagreement. But after everyone there knew what had gone on, the talk turned back to Embry's earlier suggestion of cliff-diving.

"Hey, anyone in here?" called a husky female voice from the Living room. "In here Leah" replied Jacob. Kaia turned to the doorway and barely managed to hold in a gasp at the statuesque beauty who walked into the kitchen. "What's going on here" came Leah's faintly amused question. "The Omelette Goddess has just fed us minions and we were hungry so there is nothing left for you" Embry whined. Before anyone else could speak up, they heard a smack, as Kaia wielded a wooden spatula at Embry's head. "One more comment like that, and you will never eat another omelette again," came the warning from the apron wearing midget on the counter. "Leah right? Omelette?" "Sure thing, if you promise to use another spatula" smirked Leah. "Good thing you reminded me" said Kaia, "Can you imagine an Embry flavored omelette? … urghhh, I might kill myself." Leah joined the others in the laughter and was surprised when barely a few minutes later a plate landed in front of her.

"You give new definition to fast food kid," she quipped and then went silent at the amazing flavors in her mouth. "Whatever the hell is in this, you are a genius. I like this kid Jake, make sure she sticks around yeah?" "Now what was all this talk about cliff diving?" questioned Kaia. "You can't go," "Not you," and "Are you insane" were the replies from the 3 largest males at the table. Kaia simply raised an eyebrow at them all and turned to Leah for an explanation. That subject of perusal rolled her eyes at her pack-mates and said, "Cliff diving is the only recreation in La Push, no mall you know? Do you want to go?" Kaia smiled at her unspoken support and said, "That sounds brilliant, thanks Leah." She thumbed her nose at the rest of the table's occupants, before flouncing out the door to go change.

The 3, now worried, male, wolves at the table turned as one to Leah, but even before she had a chance to shut them up, help came from a different quarter. "I dare you boys to say one word to Kaia about not going. You do that, and you will be dealing with me," came Rachel's firm reprimand. With that, Paul and Jake subsided immediately, leaving only Embry looking vaguely mutinous. "Em, if you are the reason Rachel gets mad at me again, you will be running with 3 legs, you got that?" growled Paul. Jake didn't look like he was going to be any help at all, so Embry just let it go, grumbling all the while about it being more dangerous than it looked.

When they finally got to the cliff tops, Leah and Kaia had barely managed to persuade Rachel to jump with them. She had finally relented when Paul had stepped in and promised to jump with her, holding her all the way down. "So who else are we waiting for?" asked Leah, as they spotted Ryan, Sam and Jared waiting for them at their usual jumping spot. "Just the twins and your brother, Collin said they were going to drag him out of your house and come straight here." The two groups called greetings to each other and then Jake introduced the others to Kaia. "Where's Kim man?" he asked Jared as they neared the edge. "Waiting down at the beach with towels and stuff. I think Emily just joined her," he replied, squinting at the beach below them, as Sam nodded in confirmation. "Emi brought food, she thought we could just snack on the beach before heading back for lunch." The rest of the boys cheered in approval and began to leap off, one by one.

Before Leah could follow the screaming Rachel in Paul's arms, Kaia pulled her to the side. "Hey Leah, could you do me a favor?" she continued as Leah cocked her head at the tiny brunette. "Clear away from the bottom as soon as you hit water ok?" Kaia smirked, "And then get ready for a show." Leah looked around and noticed that everyone else had already gone, except for her and Embry. "Sure kid, but be careful ok? I think Rach might be pretty fond of you already." Kaia just smiled.

Once she was alone, Kaia grinned to herself, wondering how the others were going to feel about her intended action. She leaned over the cliff, let out a piercing whistle to get their attention, then waved to make sure they were watching. She thought she saw someone approaching the cliff, in her peripheral vision, but was concentrating too hard on her next move, to turn. She stepped to the edge, and paused for a second; then, leaning forward, she leapt into space. She twisted, turned, somersaulted and spun, before slicing cleanly through the surface of the calm ocean beneath the cliff. She allowed her dive to level out before turning and kicking her way to the surface. As she broke through the surf, the only thing she saw were shocked faces, with Leah's proud gaze standing out from the other's. Rachel had apparently already swum to shore, because Kaia could hear her and 2 other female voices cheering from the direction of the beach. She grinned and then accepted a high 5 from a laughing Leah.

Suddenly she heard faint laughter coming from somewhere above her. She and the others all looked up at the same time and she could have sworn she saw something move. The laughter suddenly cut off, but she could still hear something. Was that growling? She noticed the other's now strained faces and was about to ask what was going on, when she was interrupted by Jake barking out, "Embry, Jared, make sure they get to shore in one piece ok? We're going to head on up and see what's going on up there. The twins should have got here by now." Leah shot Jake a look that Kaia missed and he knew that they needed to hurry up. Kaia had noticed something was up.

At once, the others took off for the stretch of beach nearer the pathway to the top of the cliff, while Jared and Embry watched with troubled expressions. They had heard the double tone in Jake's voice. If they were wolves, it would have been an iron-clad order, but in their human form, it was more of an iron-clad suggestion, but not one that the others could just ignore. As Kaia struck out for the shore, Leah hung back enough to mumble at Jared, "I'm pretty sure I heard Seth up there. I'm going. Jake didn't mention me doing anything in specific." Embry nodded and then turned to follow Kaia before she wondered what had happened.

Meanwhile, once out of sight of those still in the water, Kaia in particular, the others raced to the cliff top they had left barely minutes before. Once they got there, they were all astonished to see Seth, of all people, phased and growling at the twins, his best friends. "Seth… Seth, buddy, you need to calm down" Jake tried to soothe him. Seth turned to his Alpha and growled. Actually growled at him. "Ok, that's it. This is ridiculous" came Leah's voice from behind the others, who were still in shock that the coolest head in the pack had just growled at his Alpha. She went behind a rock and the others felt the soundless shimmer in the air as she phased. Jake suddenly sprung into action as well, and ripped his shorts off, and phased just as Leah came back from behind the rock. Alpha and Beta saw the problem in Seth's mind at the same time. And their reactions were wildly different.

Jake collapsed with laughter, still in wolf form, which was quite weird for the others to watch. And Leah, worried stiff for the past couple of days over her younger brother's moping, was shocked to see that it was over a girl. But only for a minute. The shock faded and the only thing she felt was anger. Thankfully Jake saw her intentions, and stopped her just before she hamstrung her little brother. By this time, the others were completely and utterly confused at the antics of the 3 horse sized wolves. They all phased as well, and were immediately assaulted by the images of Kaia from Seth's memory. They could sense Embry and Jared phased and rushing towards the cliffs as well, and the mind link became more and more distorted with all the thoughts in it.

Collin and Brady were practically helpless with laughter, since they had seen that Kaia had only been cliff diving. Seth was heartbroken because he had imprinted and she had slipped through his fingers, and he had just watched her jump off a cliff; this would have been shocking to anyone, except she had come back into his life in the most unexpected place. Leah was getting madder by the second that she had been so worried when the only thing bothering Seth, was that he was mooning over a girl. Embry and Jared were wondering why the hell Leah wanted to hamstring Seth in the first place and it was all going downhill from there.

"Everyone SHUT UP" came the double-timbered command of the alphas. Wait, alphas? They all turned to look at Sam and Jake who were eyeing each other, having shouted the same words at the same time. They just nodded and then turned back to the others. "Now what the hell is going on here?" asked Sam. Seth's thoughts, being the most turbulent, flooded through to the group. Leah and Jake both gasped, "Seth, you imprinted?" Leah asked. Her miserable sibling just nodded. It was strange to see a huge wolf nod like that. "Wait.. you imprinted on Kaia?"questioned Jake. They felt Seth's wordless question and Jake added, "The girl who just jumped off the cliff?" He nodded again.

At that moment, Embry chose to burst into mental laughter, as the past couple of days flooded into his mind. Seth absorbed his memories in shock. She had been here the whole time? Living in Jake's house? She had been here? The reservation? Sunday morning! That was why he had smelled her scent. It was her. It was actually her! While this muddled meandering was going on in poor Seth's brain, Collin and Brady were being brought up to speed by the others. "Well, what are we waiting for Clearwater, let's go meet the girl damnit" Collin the ever subtle one spouted.

Seth, dazed, just looked at all of them and then phased back. Leah yelped, "Seth, little brother, just because I have seen you in all your naked glory, does NOT mean I want to see you in a repeat of your infancy." The others all phased back in turn and changed as well. Except Collin, who volunteered to run home and grab an extra pair of shorts, giving his own to Seth, so he could get to the beach asap. With the speed they achieved as wolves, it didn't matter, he was there and back before the others could make up their minds as to a good cover story.

Only Collin noticed the growing frustration on Seth's face. Without waiting to consult the others, he took matters into his own hands. He caught his twin's eye and winked before shouting at Seth, "Last one to the beach is an ass-wipe" he yelled before jumping off the cliff, followed almost immediately by Brady and Seth. The others just shook their heads and followed them over.

As they walked up to the girls seated on the shore, they knew a clear explanation could wait, because the second Kaia saw Seth, her eyes grew wide, and they could all hear her heart-beat accelerate, "It's you" she murmured. He had the presence of mind to smile back almost normally, "Hi there." "We met at the club, didn't we?" she asked, glancing sideways at him, only to find him looking straight at her with a strange smile on his face. "Yes, we did, having trouble remembering?" he joked, but his insides were broiling at the thought that she might have forgotten him already. She blushed, recalling the number of times she had wished she had given him her number. "Didn't even have to try" she replied softly, then turning to Rachel, "I'll see you back at the house?" She smiled at the others before leaving the beach.

Seth just sat there and watched her go, a wistful smile on his face. The other imprinted wolves knew the feeling, the wrench as their imprint left. The rest just wondered at the open, naked need, clear in the boy's eyes. And then the look changed.

Resolve instead of doubt. Seth turned to the others.  
>"See you later boys" and then sprinted up the beach towards the figure of the girl walking in the distance<strong>.<strong>

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><p><strong>AN:** Don't you guys think that all that typing deserves a review? I got these past 2 chapters typed and formatted in 24 hours.

Cookies for reviewers !

Also - new question and poll up on my blog. Please make sure you visit.


	12. Scratch The Surface

**A/N: **Hey guys, sorry for the long delay. Explanations, excuses and more apologies are on the blog. Extra long chapter to make up for the longer wait. And as always, reviews are given special love.

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><p><strong>Sunday<strong>

A bloodcurdling war cry sounded before the door to the Black's kitchen swung open. "Err, are we interrupting something?" came an amused voice from the doorway. Embry paused in his death rattle groaning and looked up from the floor, only to see an extremely amused Collin, a slightly confused looking Brady and Seth who looked worried until he noticed that Kaia was unharmed. That particular imprint grinned deviously at the distraction that took Embry's attention off her; a situation she took full advantage of by emptying the contents of the bowl she was holding, all over that unsuspecting individual's head. "I win Call, now you have to clean up before Rachel gets back," was her only retort before flouncing out the open kitchen door into the yard. Seth made to follow her, but couldn't help taking a second to look around the war-zone that was formerly the kitchen. There was flour everywhere, including Kaia's hair, eggs dripping off the counter and from Embry's head, and unless he was mistaken, that was Jake's motionless leg sticking out from under the table. "Wow" was Collin's observation.

Embry rolled his eyes and then began grumbling as he got around to picking himself off the floor. "That kid has reflexes. Damn, she's fast" he mumbled under this breath, as he attempted to get the sole pancake that had been made before the food fight had begun, off the ceiling. Meanwhile Brady was poking at Jake's leg and Collin was looking to Embry for an explanation. Seth had already decamped to go find his imprint, and would probably get the story from her. "Food fight. Jake ducked under the table to avoid the egg missiles. Knocked himself out. Also. Seth's imprint is evil." That was as much as the younger wolves got from the older one, as he rushed about cleaning up the kitchen before his Alpha's sister came back. Brady and Collin looked at each other once before bursting into laughter, ignoring the evil eye that Embry was shooting them.

Meanwhile, Seth had followed Kaia out behind the garage where she ducked her head under the tap, to get the flour and eggshells out. The rush of the water covered the sound of Seth's approach, so she jumped when she stood up to see him watching her, an amused sparkle in his eye. "So I hear you killed Jake and injured Embry" he chuckled. "Hmph, yeah well, Embry thought rubbing flour in my hair, was threat enough to get him some more pancakes, more fool him," was her reply. "Apparently, Jake is still out cold and I think Embry might be in trouble, coz that's Paul's truck coming up the road right about now," Seth pointed. Kaia rubbed her hands together and giggled, "Oh this should be fun, hurry up lets go see if she kills him first or lets him explain before she deals the death blow." Seth laughed and followed her into the house.

Fifteen minutes later, Seth, Kaia, Collin, Brady, Embry, Jake with a bag of frozen peas on his head, and Paul, all sat on the shore of First Beach, in utter silence. "Wow," mumbled Embry. "Small… and yet.. so terrifying," added Jake. "You realize that's my girlfriend right?," Paul stated, "I now have a very real fear for my life." "Dude… she made me want to run home to my mommy." Collin muttered; the rest of them nodding, utterly shameless in their fear of Rachel Black and her threatened retribution. Except for one. Kaia struggled to keep her sniggering under her breath, but wasn't prepared for Embry's sudden movement, when he turned and swung her over his shoulder, and stalked to the water. The only one affected by her screaming was Seth, who was stopped from going after them by Collin's restraining hand on his shoulder. He looked to his best friend and Collin just shook his head at him. "You know Embry won't hurt her," he muttered under his breath. Seth nodded and sat back down, fighting the urge to make sure his imprint was safe and unharmed. His head told him Embry would kill someone before letting Kaia get hurt, but the part of his soul that belonged to her, wanted to be holding her, so that he knew without a doubt that she wasn't getting hurt.

Her payback dunking over, Embry and Kaia rejoined the rest of the group and the talk inevitable turned to school, which was re-opening the next day. "So Kai, you looking forward to sharing a lab table with me, you KNOW I'm the better looking Jameson right?" quipped Collin, flexing his arms and pretending to strike a pose. Even Seth had to laugh as Kaia widened her eyes at him and then got up to run to a surprised Brady, clutching his arm and squealing at the top of her lungs, for him to "Save me from this vile creature" in a horribly fake Southern accent. The laughter got worse as Embry told her to stop the terrible accents, or he would die laughing. She sat up, narrowed her eyes at him and then proceeded to wiggle her fingers while chanting something under her breath. "What are you doing?" Seth asked, moving closer to her very subtly, as he did so. "Interrupt me not, young Clearwater," she intoned. "I'm putting a spell on Embry so that every woman who sees him will go running in the opposite direction the second she lays eyes on him." "Wait a minute, that already happens," Jake roared with laughter. "Do you now see the extent of my awesomeness?" she asked smugly. "I can even affect the past."

And the rest of the day passed with the same bantering. Rachel had finally taken pity on them and decided to bring down a picnic lunch, when they were joined by Leah, and quite a few of the rest of the pack as well, until by mid-afternoon, the entire pack, plus imprints, and assorted friends had congregated on First Beach. The girls either sunbathed or lazed around, enjoying the last of the summer sunshine. Meanwhile the boys organized an impromptu volleyball match, which they had to move into the water when Rachel complained that they were kicking up too much sand. Quil of course had decided to sit out the game, helping Claire to build a huge sandcastle. Embry noticed Kaia watching them with a longing expression on her face, before she shook her head. Then with a determined look, she marched to the shore line with one of Claire's buckets, filled it with water, and then snuck up on Leah and Rachel, emptying it over them both, before she ran up the beach laughing gaily. As she ran, she kept looking over her shoulder, at the two soaking wet girls who were chasing her, and she missed seeing the large person, who, it seemed to Embry, purposely moved himself into her path.

Without a second thought, Embry raced down the beach, only to find that Seth had also seen what had happened and followed. Knowing who Kaia's obstacle was, he found it easy to believe that the rest of the pack would follow if things got heated. Already he could hear the twins telling Jake they would be right back. As he reached Kaia, who was still sprawled on the ground, he noticed that the large boy in her way hadn't even offered her a hand up. Rachel and Leah had reached them just then, and Leah glared at the long-haired offender, while Rachel helped Kaia off the ground. "What the hell is your problem Lester?" exploded Seth. Embry sighed to himself. It seemed that even though Seth had always stayed the cool head in pack discussions, imprinting was turning him into a Paul-esque rage machine.

Lester simply looked at them coolly, ignoring Kaia and the girls, sneering when he saw Seth's concern over the green-eyed girl. "Wow, another bitch joins the pack," he smirked, seeing Embry close to losing his temper. "Hey Lester, if you've got something to say, grow a set, and say it like a man. You don't have to knock girls over when they aren't even looking at you. Oh wait, is that why you do it in the first place?" Collin asked, a dangerous tone in his voice. "Whatever man, looks like another worshipper for your little cult you have going on here," Lester stated. "Keep your bitch to your end of the beach." He said, turning to walk away. "Hey Lester," he heard a female voice call, before turning to find Leah's fist in his face. As he fell to the sand, he heard the other's laughing. A shocked Kaia watched Leah wide-eyed, as she dropped a disdainful glare at his prone form, and turned to walk away. "Don't screw around with any of us. I might not hit you in the jaw next time." Embry crouched down next to him and whispered soft enough so Kaia wouldn't hear, "Oh and Lester, the new girl is one of us, so if you touch her, go near her, or even look at her the wrong way, I WILL find you, and believe me when I say, you WILL get hurt." And they left him lying there.

On the way back to the others, Kaia edged closer to Rachel and then asked, "Rach, who the hell was that guy?" Rachel sighed before replying, "Lester Stevens. Major prick, although he wasn't always like that. He has this grudge against most of the guys because of how they look, and the fact that most girls in school don't pay any attention to anyone who isn't one of the 'gang' back there." Kaia didn't miss the mocking in Rachel's voice when she used air quotes around 'the gang' and listened intently as she went on. "He spread this rumor around the Rez that the guys were all on drugs. Stupid really, since all of them are related in some way, pretty distantly. Their size is all genetic. Some of them have it and some of them don't. Sam put a stop to that pretty quickly when he publicly called Lester on it, and then invited Dr. Cullen from Forks to come run blood tests to prove that they had never touched the stuff in their lives."  
>Rachel smiled to herself at that particularly sneaky maneuver and winked at Kaia. "Bottom line is, he is beyond jealous, and acts like he's got some sort of vendetta against the boys, and a few of us girls too actually." "Oh Ok, is he going to be in school as well?" asked Kaia warily. " 'Fraid so kid," replied Rachel, "I think he's a junior too, I just hope you don't have any classes with him. The boys say he can be a real pain in the ass." "Yeah well, he knows better than to look sideways at you again," retorted Collin, from where he had snuck up next to them. "Especially if Leah is around," chimed in Brady. "Oh he won't. I can pretty much guarantee that." Seth added grimly from just behind them. Rachel rolled her eyes at the machismo, and looked back at her best friend, only to see even Leah's face set in determination. That was when Rachel Black realized just how far the packs would go to keep one of their imprints safe.<p>

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><p><strong> The Next Day.<strong>

Nervous?" asked Rachel with a small smile, glancing at the young girl in the seat next to her, as she turned onto the highway, towards the La Push High School. "A little," admitted Kaia, watching the ocean vista roll past as Rachel went well over the speed limit, as she usually did if Paul wasn't in the car to grumble at her to slow down. "And I bet yesterday didn't help much," hinted Rachel. "No shit Sherlock," retorted Kaia.  
>Rachel laughed as they pulled into the parking lot of the high school and she turned to Kaia. "Listen, chances are, you're going to have either one of the twins or Seth in almost all your classes. Embry and Paul are both seniors, and if anyone, especially Lester, gives you a hard time, you give one of them a call. I don't think they'll be too far away from you at any point anyway." "Wait what? I've got bodyguards or something now?" came the indignant reply from the passenger seat. Rachel giggled, "Sweetie, have you seen the way these guys act around us? Paul won't let me lift a finger, if he thinks he can do it for me. Jake is almost as bad, Embry adores you, and the omelettes, don't forget. The twins and Seth were so excited to hear you were going to be a junior as well; I had to kick them out when you told them. Believe me when I say, they are going to coddle you until you want to hit them." "I already want to hit them," grumbled Kaia, "as if I can't take care of myself… stupid boys.. boy cooties…" which was all Rachel heard as she began to mumble to herself.<br>As Rachel turned the car to leave, she couldn't resist a parting shot at the grumpy brunette walking to the sidewalk. "Oh, and if you don't believe me, check out your welcoming committee," she called, before laughing and driving back out the gates.

Kaia turned to the other end of the parking lot, only to see Seth leaning against a dark blue pick-up truck, watching her walk towards him, an unreadable expression on his face. Just then two motorcycles pulled into the lot and parked alongside the truck. Helmets came off to reveal two identical smiling faces. Arguments as to who beat whom, were interrupted when Jake, Ryan and Paul walked out of the woods and joined them. Kaia thought this was weird but dismissed it as them taking a short cut to school. She took a deep breath before turning to face the doors. She felt a presence behind her and a glance showed her Seth, watching her with the same intense expression he had worn when she had first seen him. His face suddenly broke into a sunny smile, as he held the door open for her and guided her through. "It won't be that bad you know," he murmured, as the twins joined them, their argument still going strong. "I hope not," she sighed as they walked to the office to pick up her schedule.

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><p>A couple of weeks passed in this fashion, with the only difference of her getting a ride with Seth every morning and afternoon, and meeting up with everyone else in the parking lot before class. She soon learned that the Brady-Collin argument was a daily occurrence and not likely to disappear anytime in the next millennium. Ryan was more of an unknown entity to her. He was quieter than the others, held back more, but when he did get involved in conversation, Kaia could sense a sharp mind.<br>Like Rachel had said, she had all her classes with either the twins or Seth, and she blushed to think that Biology was fast becoming her favorite subject. It was the one in which she and Seth shared a lab table, much to Collin's announced disappointment. Brady had draped a frog's leg over his shoulder, while he was standing on a cafeteria chair proclaiming how upset he was that Kaia was sharing with Seth and he had been stuck with his twin again. Lunch was when she sat at an extremely crowded table with the twins, Seth (she blushed again at the thought) Ryan, Paul and Embry.  
>Embry had surprisingly found himself checking up on Kaia every now and then and made sure to make note of anyone who might have given her a hard time. Having always been a bit of a loner in Jake's pack, he was drawn to the way the younger girl had simply seemed to hang around him, and was so comfortable doing so, that just last night she had dozed off against his shoulder, while watching a movie with him, Jake and Rachel. He figured this was how the other boys in the packs felt about their younger siblings; he had even taken to eyeing Seth with suspicion now and then, but not even he could question the boy's devotion. Jake had noticed Embry's feelings the previous night when they had both been on patrol together and had told Rachel about it. Rachel had simply smiled and said, "I'm glad that Embry finally knows what it's like to have a little sister, it's a lot like how I feel when I see you."<p>

While Seth was doing everything he could to make sure he and Kaia did well in their shared class, Collin and Brady seemed to be going in the opposite direction. Rachel now referred to Collin, Brady and Kaia as a single entity. An entity she simply called Trouble. It didn't matter where they went or what they did. They just seemed to get themselves into more trouble than any others in the packs, imprints included. They had already shown up on Rachel's doorstep twice, with cuts and bruises from attempting to do handstands all the way down to the shore front, over the pebbled section of the beach. She had made sure to cover up the boys arms before Kaia noticed they were already healing, before giving them all a lecture about it.  
>A lecture which was promptly followed by all 3 getting brain-freezes from attempting to inhale the ice-cream she had given them to make them feel better. Jake simply laughed at their antics, while Embry did everything he could to join in. Paul was an active cheerleader, but only when Rachel was not watching. Jared and Sam found them hilarious, and Emily and Kim loved them. Ryan just smiled at their crazy plots and covered for them whenever he could. Leah would glare at anyone who had anything negative to say about Kaia, and Seth was another story altogether.<p>

He spent most of these pranks wishing Kaia would be as easygoing with him, only to realize that now and then, she would send a shy smile his way, and not the kind she used with everyone else. It was a smile he knew was reserved only for him. He knew this because he spent every moment watching her to see who else could make her smile like that. And it made him happy that it seemed to only be him. So he was satisfied that, although the twins seemed to be her chosen partners in crime, he seemed to be something special as well. He only wished she would still feel he was special when he told her about them.

So far, Kaia's world seemed pretty ideal. She had friends she liked, a guardian who was pretty much like a really cool older sister, Embry, who acted a lot like her older brother always had, the twins who got in as much trouble with her as they did without, Ryan, who she discovered actually had a wicked sense of humor, and Seth. She couldn't really define what Seth meant to her right then, but she knew it was something. A something she couldn't really define. Like seeing a picture through a window in the fog. You knew the vague outline, but you had to wait until the fogginess cleared before you could see it clearly.  
>So overall, she was pretty happy, except for Friday afternoons. That was when she had her advanced Math class. The ONLY class she had without any of the pack in it. They had gaped at her and told her they were not signing up for any more of Mr. Dalenzi than they had to endure.<p>

This was also the ONLY class she had with Lester in it.

The taunts had been subtle at first, and usually whispered. When he realized she was ignoring him, they got a little louder, and then a little more pointed. Then he graduated to muttering things at her in the hallways when she was alone, which was not often. But it was always worse in class. By the end of September, she was ready to scream every time the calendar pointed out that it was Friday.  
>She didn't mention Lester or his comments to anyone else, because she knew they would get mad and she didn't want anyone else fighting her battles for her. And she knew without a doubt that if Embry or Seth got wind of what Lester was suggesting, then the boy would probably be rendered incapable of biological children. So she gritted her teeth and ignored him, which worked fine until the last Friday of the month.<br>Lester had stepped up his taunts this week. And during the class it went on non-stop, from suggesting that she was 'available' to any of the pack, or maybe she and the twins had a kinky little set-up going. Disgusted, she muttered, "asswipe" before stalking out of the classroom when the bell rang. Only to find that he followed directly behind her, offering to 'show her a good time,' and suggesting that with her supposed experience, she could definitely 'give him a hand.'  
>That was the last straw. She had listened to, and ignored his lewd idiocy for far too long. So right there, in the middle of the hallway, she whipped around and punched him.<br>Right in the face.  
>Clutching his nose, his eyes filled with rage, he raised his other hand to retaliate, when he found his fist in a vice-like grip inches away from Kaia's shocked face.<p>

"I suggest you think about what you almost did buddy," an enraged Collin hissed, inches from Lester's now terrified face. Ryan stepped protectively in front of Kaia, making sure that he was between her and Lester, but in such a way that Seth could still see her. Keeping her in Seth's line of vision was the only way to keep the young shifter grounded for the moment.  
>Lester looked beyond Collin's arm, to see Brady holding Seth back. This was a Seth Clearwater that had never been seen before. His usually placid demeanor was replaced by overpowering fury. Brady's expression suggested that he wasn't really happy with holding Seth back. The only reason he was doing it, was because if he didn't, his best friend would definitely phase and there would be nothing left of Lester for the coroners to identify. Even then, Collin knew his twin was weighing the odds of letting Seth go long enough to maim Lester. He had almost hit Kaia, and for Seth, any intended threat to his imprint was unacceptable.<br>All threats had to be eliminated. It was a rule for an imprinted wolf.  
>You see threat. You get rid of threat.<br>A simple flow chart that they loved for its very simplicity. This decision was taken out of their hands thankfully, by 2 large shadows that suddenly loomed over Lester's now pale face. "Do we have a problem?" boomed Paul's deep voice, watching the boy cowering in front of Collin, as if he would like nothing more for Collin to say there was a problem. Embry was more interested in the fear he had seen in Kaia's eyes when she had looked at Lester. "He almost hit her," growled Seth.

"What?" came the simultaneous outrage from Paul and Embry. "Yeah, we were coming to get her from class, and we heard him saying… stuff.. to her. It was sick Em, real sick. So she hit him. And he almost punched her…" muttered Collin. By the expression on Seth and Brady's face, whatever it was that Lester had been saying, it had been vile. Paul glared at Lester, while Embry's face looked positively evil. Seth had calmed down enough for Brady to be sure he wouldn't accidentally phase, although the younger wolf couldn't help wishing he would run across Lester while he was in his wolf form. Embry leaned towards Lester, itching to hurt him, while Paul said menacingly, "I know Embry told you what would happen if you messed with one of ours. Are you that stupid that you want to find out first hand Lester?"  
>The terrified one in question looked at the hulking giants in front of him, before gulping and shaking his head.<br>"Yeah that's what I thought. Now get out of here, before the janitor has to mop you up." As he walked away, he managed a weak sneer at Kaia, who had stood stone-faced through the entire thing. She ignored him and breathed a sigh of relief when he turned the corner and was out of sight. The boys had turned worried eyes to her, and were mollified to see that she seemed fine. Of course, that was until Embry said, "You don't have to worry about him, we've got your back Munchkin."

And that did it.

Tears streaming down her face, she raced down the hallway and disappeared outside, before they could stop her. Seth was about to go after her, when Embry stopped him and went himself. Following his nose, he went straight to the back of the bleachers to see a tiny ball under the lower ones, curled up, and apparently sobbing. Approaching her as he would approach any crying woman, with extreme caution, Embry wondered what had made her burst into tears.  
>"Hey Kai, what happened? It wasn't Lester, he didn't even phase you, was it something we said?," he asked softly. Looking up, she hastily wiped her tears and spoke hesitantly, "No, it's not that… I'm glad you guys told him off, I should have said something earlier… but… it's just that, you called me Munchkin… why'd you do that?" "Because you struck me as being very munchkin-y at the time. I don't know… I'm sorry?" was Embry's very puzzled reply. "No, it's ok… it's just that, my brother used to call me munchkin all the time… and he's been missing for months now, and I just… I miss him Em… so much… I miss him and I wish… I wish he was home again…" she said, dissolving into tears again as she spoke.<p>

Embry, his heart breaking for the little brunette in front of him, picked her up and held her in his lap while she cried, before asking softly, "Would you like someone to take you home Kai? I can fix it with school, no worries, but do you want to go home right now?"  
>"Yeah Em, just not the twins or Seth please… I don't want to be so blubbery in front of them."<br>"Honey, any one of them would kill for you… you just can't see it yet…" he mumbled. Pulling out his cell phone, he called a number he usually only used when it was to do with pack business. "Leah? Hey it's Embry, listen… I'll explain later, but can you come pick up Kaia from school right now?" There was a pause as Kaia supposed Leah was asking what the problem was.  
>Embry's eyes tightened at the corners, before he spoke through his teeth, "Lester was being an asshole today. He nearly hit her." Even Kaia heard Leah's angry exclamation, before Embry's terse, "See you in ten."<p>

And true to her word, ten minutes later, Leah pulled up in front of the school gates, looking for all the world like she would like to get out and pound some sense into Lester herself. As Kaia got into the car, she looked over at the girl, as if to make sure that Embry wasn't lying about the almost part. "You ok?" she asked. Kaia's nod seemed enough for her as she turned the car around to head for Rachel's. Glancing in her rear-view mirror, she saw Embry watching them as they turned out of the drive-way. Once they were out of sight, he sighed and went back inside, knowing that Seth would be beyond frantic with worry by now. He spotted them as soon as he walked through the doors. Seth looked like he was about to rip Brady's head off for not letting go of him earlier, and Paul, Ryan and Collin were trying to calm him down. The second he spotted Embry, however, he raced over to ask him what had happened and where Kaia was. Embry took a deep breath and explained to them that he had called Leah and Kaia was probably already at home while they were talking. As soon as he mentioned Leah had taken her home, Ryan had nodded at him and walked away towards the office to make sure that she didn't get in trouble for leaving.

"You know I can't just let this go right?" Seth looked at the others questioningly. All he got in return were 4 blank looks that said it all. "Of course not dumbass, you just have to make sure no one sees you making any threats or following up on them," Collin voiced their collective opinion. "Good to hear you have something in mind," Embry said, "Coz that shithead deserves some payback." "Oh, he'll get it alright," muttered Seth, looking devious, while Paul and Embry exchanged satisfied glances. "You just let us know how we can help." "And you all know that Leah and I will want a piece of this as well right?," they heard Ryan interject, from where he had just rejoined them. "Sure, but I get first dibs. My imprint, my rules." When it looked like there was going to be no argument to Seth's only condition, they looked at each other and as one, knew that Lester Stevens was going to be very, very sorry he hadn't taken Embry's advice that day on the beach.

Seth's grim smile was testament enough to that fact.

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><p>AN: Hey guys, don't forget to review!

Sorry for such a long wait, but I promise to have lots more up real soon.

And check out the blog for some more updates that I just posted. Would love to hear your thoughts on what I have planned.  
>Please leave your comments on the new teaser as well.<p>

Am dying to hear what you guys think of it!


	13. Surprise ?

**A/N: **Hey all, I know it's been a long wait, and I hope I haven't lost any readers because of that. There has been a lot going on in my life and I love that my writing has helped me get away from it all.

A special note to my adviser 'Mythical Words' – I tried to work your advice into this chapter and I realllllly want to know if you see any improvement. Please please please let me know what you think.

As always – PLEASE REVIEW !

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><p><strong>October<strong>

"Hey short stuff… you got any Halloween plans?" shouted Embry over the cacophony that was their lunch table, on a Wednesday afternoon in October.  
>"Yeah, it involves a cake, lots of chocolate, candles and one crazy best friend who is bound to visit," she grinned back at him.<br>"Wait, what?" asked the puzzled questioner.  
>"Umm… it's my birthday you dummy… I'm a spook…err… Why are you guys looking at me like that?" she asked as the rest of the table all turned as one to stare at her. The twins looked at each other in disbelief before turning to her and Brady asked, "You're not kidding us, are you? Your birthday's really Halloween?"<br>"Of course not you idiots, why would I make that up? Have you guys been slipping stuff in your soda when I wasn't watching?" was her now annoyed reply.  
>"We are truly some kind of cosmic related sibling type stuff," was Collin's unhelpful explanation while Brady just looked from one to the other.<br>"Rachel is really going to flip when she hears about this," guffawed Paul, "she is already constantly talking about how you 3 must have been separated at birth, and now I get to tell her you even have the same birthday."

As the light finally dawned, Kaia's eyes grew wide before she burst into laughter and asking, "Are you serious?" through her giggles. "Wow" muttered Embry, looking at the three of them, Kaia sitting between the twins, with Seth, Embry, Ryan and Paul across from them. All 3 were now wearing identical expressions that usually meant trouble for anyone who had the misfortune of being their next prank victims. "It's freaky how alike you are. And now you've got the same birthday, it's gone from freaky to the freakin Twilight Zone." Ryan began humming the theme song just as the 3 freaks in question narrowed their eyes at the rest of them. The bantering continued when Lester burst into the cafeteria sounding hysterical, shouting about wolves and how they were haunting the school grounds. Embry and Paul exchanged smirks when Kaia was not looking, and Seth's face took on a very satisfied expression. Kaia looked at the shouting boy with disdain and then asked Ryan, "What's with him?"  
>That worthy arranged a suitable baffled expression on his face before turning to her, "Not a clue. I don't think even the wolves around this place would touch him with a ten foot pole. He's been wandering around telling people wolves are following him everywhere he goes." "Weirdo," muttered Kaia, as their conversation veered away from the still agitated boy being led to the nurse's office by a classmate. Seth watched him go with a stone faced glare, going over the next step of his plot to get even with the bully.<p>

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><p><strong>Later that evening.<strong>

"Paul, it's getting a little too cold for walks on the beach every night." Rachel mumbled while cuddling closer to her boyfriend, grateful for his warmth when his arm tightened around her. "Sure baby, I just like the alone time you know, no Jake, no Billy, just us." He smiled down at her. "Even though I know that Embry is just beyond the trees right now, on patrol, I like that, for now, it's just us." Rachel turned her head slightly and inhaled, relishing the smell of pine, and damp earth that she associated solely with her boyfriend. "Mmmmm, me too, but maybe we can just stick inland, or go for a drive or something, the wind coming off this water freezes me right through."  
>"That's why I'm here, baby" he half-whispered, pulling her to him and bending to kiss her. For a few moments, Rachel forgot all about feeling cold, or her father who was probably waiting up for them, and heard nothing but the pounding of their hearts racing.<br>The sound of the waves slowly came back into focus, as he pulled away to rest his forehead against hers. "I love you Rach," he whispered, adding 'forever and always' in Quileute, knowing how much she loved to speak in their native tongue.  
>"Always and Forever," she replied, in Quileute. They stood like that a few minutes, before he felt her shiver a little, so he pulled her under his arm again, and started heading back to her house. He laughed to himself at her disbelief when he told her that Kaia and the twins were literally born on the same day, and her groaning that they were bound to get worse now, with their new found bond. He knew her groaning was a lot of show, to hide the affection she felt for the girl who had fit into their family like she had always been a part of it.<p>

Suddenly his guard shot up, as he felt Rachel come to a sudden stop, next to him. Instinct kicking in, he glanced around, already looking at ways he could best defend his imprint, when he realized that she had turned to face him, a brilliant smile on her face. Only then did he relax, realizing that she hadn't stopped because of something bad. "A surprise party, a big one, on the beach… not like the usual bonfires on the cliffs… a huge party, like fires and all, maybe a barbeque?" she squealed, talking faster than her normal pace, with such disjointed sentences, that even her true soul-mate had trouble following her.  
>"Rach, baby, I can turn into a giant wolf, I can fight and dismember vampires, but I can't understand a word you're saying right now. Slow down. Please?" he said, grinning at her impatient look before she slowed down enough to explain her idea of throwing the 3 'spooks' a huge birthday party on the beach. Paul, glad to see the happiness on her face, readily agreed to do anything she needed to get things moving. If only the poor, hapless, boy had known the trouble he was asking for. But as with all men in love, he dealt with it; he also made sure that Rachel roped in her brother and therefore the rest of the wolves as well. He was in love, but he wasn't dumb enough to think he wasn't going to regret offering to help soon enough.<p>

He and Billy grinned at each other as they sat in the living room and listened to Rachel enthusiastically explaining her plan to Kaia's best friend, Michelle. She had thought of getting the younger girl involved immediately so that Kaia wouldn't be left out when it came to what she would like in a party. From the squealing on the other end of the phone, that Paul's ears could pick out, this plan was going well. "Ok so most of it is settled," Rachel declared, throwing herself on the couch next to Paul and shooting her father a happy grin. He smiled back, glad to see his daughter with such joy in her eyes. It had taken the girls a very long time to recover from their mother's passing, and Billy Black knew that she was finally beginning to leave the past behind her. He shook off his reminiscing to pay attention to what Rachel was telling them. "So, Michelle, that's Kaia's best friend, she said that she and her family were planning on driving down to spend the weekend in Forks so they could visit for her birthday, but she loves this idea and is calling me back as soon as she runs a few possibilities past her folks. They can't wait to see her and this Michelle sounds like a real blast actually," she gushed.

Just then the phone rang and Paul and Billy both burst out laughing at the way she jumped up and rushed to answer it. They heard a few excited exclamations before she hung up and came back into the living room with a smile that stretched from ear-to-ear. "So that was _MISTER_ Morgan I just spoke to, Michelle's dad, and he says that he and his wife love this idea so much, he wanted to know if he would be allowed to help in some way. So I said I'd love for them to be involved and you'll never guess what he wants to do."  
>She poked Paul in the chest with excitement. "He said that since he doesn't want to get in the way of us girl's planning, he would like to pay to hire a tent so that the beach won't affect the costumes if anyone wants to get dressed up for Halloween. Soooo after that Michelle and I decided to make like it's a normal Halloween party and then bring in the surprise cake or something later in the evening… what do you both think?" she demanded.<p>

Paul grinned and gave her a thumbs up while Billy rumbled, "Sounds like a good plan sweetheart, but can you keep it a secret that long? Especially with the boys?" he glanced at Paul while he said this. "I don't patrol with Collin or Brady, since they usually have each other to partner with," replied Paul, and then he added, "But I think I might ask Sam to use an Alpha command, just to be on the safe side," remembering how the twins had kept Seth's imprinting a secret while on patrol.  
>"It's a good thing all of them have gone to a movie tonight," Paul said to Billy, "I don't think she would have been able to wait until later to organize something." Billy laughed at the disgruntled expression on his daughter's face as she scowled at the shape-shifter with his arms around her.<br>"I'm not that impatient, am I Daddy?" she pouted at him, knowing he couldn't resist it when she called him that.  
>"Sure sure, sweetheart" he smiled at her. Paul looked up right then, and winked at Billy, "They're back, I can hear Seth's truck coming down the road." A few minutes later, they heard doors open and close, before the front door opened and Collin's head poked through. "Hi there," he whispered, "Sleeping beauty coming through," before Seth walked in after him, a sleeping Kaia in his arms. "She fell asleep on the drive back, and so did Kim actually. Emily said to just carry them in when we got home, because it was late, and they needed more sleep than we did," shrugged Brady as Seth came back from where he had deposited a sleeping imprint in her room. Collin added, "Yeah, also, Rachel, Leah said to tell you, and I quote, 'you ditch me with the junior squad again, and I will tell everyone about the frog episode' quote unqote. What is she talking about?"<br>"You will never find out Jameson, and you either Paul," she interrupted both their protests with a theatrical shudder.

And so the plans were made. The rest of the pack were duly informed and forbidden to say anything to any of the three. Sam's pack were also told he could command them to keep the secret if they thought they might let something slip about the birthday part. But the fear of Rachel Black and what she might do to them if they messed up was enough to still their tongues.  
>No alpha commands needed.<br>Brady and Collin had turned into slightly more overprotective guard dogs than earlier, especially when they figured that if you got technical about it, Kaia was exactly 5 hours younger than the both of them. They had practically adopted her and Embry was feeling slightly pushed aside, until he had been cornered by Miss Reynolds one afternoon after school, demanding to know why he had skipped movie night at Rachel's house. Collin and Brady were not a part of movie night and it made him feel better to know that he had been missed. Seth, on the other hand, began to withdraw into himself, as everyone seemed to have a claim on his imprint except himself. This lasted until Leah told him to man-up and explain the secret to her. Then feeling sorry for him, she showed him the memory she had picked up, of Kaia refusing to let the twins join them on the way to and from school. That cheered him up. She cherished their time together. Leah, for her part, marveled at the way the young girl had seemed to wind her way into the hearts of the entire pack.  
>They all loved her, in such a short time, for the way she just became a part of them.<p>

And she had already formed unique relationships with all of them. While she spent a majority of her time with the twins, Seth finally understood that this was because they were literally like 3 peas in a pod. They got into all sorts of mischief and had already been called to the principal's office thrice. The only way they hadn't received suspensions yet was because Kaia was adept at turning on the waterworks to get out of trouble.  
>Embry was like her surrogate older brother, and she had even been able to get around him to drive her into Port Angeles to do some shopping, which ended with the both of them sitting on the hood of his truck eating ice-cream cones and comparing the merits of their respectively chosen flavors.<br>Paul was her sounding board and someone she would trust in a heartbeat. Ryan was the only one she debated school work with, because they others ran a mile at the mere thought of homework.  
>Leah and Rachel were the ones she truly looked up to. Because when she saw them, she saw strong, independent women, who were not afraid to put friendship first, if the situation called for it. She knew that if the situation ever arose, she would be able to put Michelle first instead of a boyfriend.<br>And Seth… she knew she had a crush on him the first time she saw him, but she also knew that those feelings were slowly changing. Every time she walked out to the truck where he was waiting with her door held open, the intensity of his gaze before that sunny smile broke out, was enough to give her butterflies. And not just crush sized butterflies. These were dinosaur butterflies. 'Maybe this wasn't some random crush,' she told herself. 'Just wait and see.'

* * *

><p><strong>Halloween<strong>

"Happy Birthday to me," she whispered to herself as she watched the clock on her bedside table glow brightly in the dark. The luminescent 12 was the only bright spot in the room. She smiled and looked at her phone, knowing it would be mere seconds before it rang and her screaming best friend would be on the other end. Sure enough, the thought had barely crossed her mind when the first notes of Pink's 'So What' rang out, and she answered with a stifled laugh, trying not to wake anyone else in the house. Rachel had planned on throwing a huge bonfire party to celebrate Halloween that night, and she knew that they were going to have a barbecue for the birthday people sometime later that week.  
>Embry had realized that she would see right through any kind of subterfuge about forgetting her birthday and so had convinced Rachel that telling her they would celebrate later was the best option.<p>

Hanging up after talking to Michelle, Kaia was relieved that she and her parents were driving up to spend the next weekend with her in La Push. She missed her best friend like crazy and was dying to talk to her; Michelle had always had a way of cutting through Kaia's muddled emotions to the issue that was most bothering her. She hadn't mentioned her growing feelings for Seth, deciding that she needed to do that when she could see Michelle's reactions in person. She had been shocked into silence when Kaia had revealed that the boy she had danced with at the club, had actually been living on the reservation she had just moved to. Just as her thoughts were starting to get fuzzy with sleep, she was startled by a soft tapping on the window.

Slightly apprehensive, she tip-toed to it and peered into the darkness. She could vaguely make out a large shadow that seemed to be hovering just beneath it, and was just about to get panicky when she heard a whispered, "Kai?" that immediately relaxed her. She knew that voice, could have picked it out of a room full of voices. "Seth? What the hell are you doing out this late?" she whispered back, opening the window so the young boy could climb into her room. "I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday before everyone else, except for Michelle I'm guessing," he tacked on at the end with a grin. Overwhelmed by the sentiment this teenager was capable of, Kaia flung her arms around him for a hug; her brain picking up on the fact that he seemed to be shirtless, only after she was pressed up against his torso. Blushing, she stepped back from him, glad for the darkness in the room that hid her now red cheeks. Thankfully he seemed just as tongue tied as her at that point. "Anyway, I actually have an official birthday present for you, but I just wanted to give you this now," he said, pressing something into her hand, before ducking his head and pressing a soft, chaste, kiss to her lips. Pulling back, he smiled at her, the intense expression she had grown used to, back in his eyes, then grinned widely before ducking back out the window, and he was gone before she could process the kiss.

For a moment, she was about to convince herself that her mind had tricked her into imagining her visitor, when the crackle of paper in her hand made her look down. She snapped out of her momentary stupor, going to the tiny table in the corner of her room, and putting on the little lamp there. She looked down at the pale purple, wrapped package, smiling to see that he remembered her favorite color. Carefully opening it, she gasped lightly to see a thin silver chain, with a tiny enamel pendant in the shape of a white orchid with a deep purple center. She had mentioned in passing one day at lunch that Orchids were her favorite flower, and she was touched that Seth had remembered enough to get her the exact same kind she loved. Smiling widely, she placed the necklace where she could see it and wear it the next day. She was looking forward to school even though it was Friday, since ignoring Lester had become easier lately.

The next morning, she and the twins were inundated with wishes from their classmates, and their other friends at school. While Paul and Embry joined in the noise with some good natured ribbing, Seth held back a little, watching Kaia carefully every time he thought she wouldn't notice. Ryan noticed him staring once, and the other boy blushed at getting caught. However, the un-imprinted wolf said nothing, just giving his pack brother a sympathetic smile, before grinning at him. Ryan had always been an observant boy, more quiet than the rest, and he picked up on the signs that told him something was hurting Seth. Patrolling with him a couple of times had confirmed his suspicions. The boy was in love. It wasn't just the imprint's pull he felt. Seth Clearwater was in love with Kaia Reynolds, and he had no idea how he was going to tell her about it.

Not to mention the small fact that he also turned into a giant, sandy, wolf.

"Ok you guys, now make sure your costumes are all set up and stuff ok, Rachel says she wants us at the beach at 7 sharp," Kaia rattled off instructions as they all dispersed in the parking lot that afternoon.  
>Collin and Brady both snapped Hitler salutes at her, before racing out of the parking lot on their motorcycles. She shook her head at them, taking a deep breath and turning to find Seth standing just behind her, leaning against the door of his truck. Her smile fading, she looked him in the eye, and then reaching for the necklace she had worn all day, she spoke softly, "Thank you Seth, you have no idea how much I love this. It's a way to keep my family close today, and … and I can't even think how you remembered… " she trailed off, getting too choked to speak. He said nothing, just looking at her again; then without warning, he took her by the arms and drew her to him for a warm hug.<br>"I remember almost everything to do with you, you know," he murmured into her hair. "I didn't mean to make you cry. I just wanted to give you something special."  
>"Oh that's not why I'm crying you silly boy," she giggled through her tears, "It's because you gave me something very special. Something I plan to keep always."<br>"You're a very special girl Kaia Reynolds. And not just to me, you know," he told her, smiling. "Now come on, let's get you back to Rachel's. You still keeping your costume a secret?" he asked, curious as to why she wouldn't tell them what she was going as.  
>"Obviously," she smirked at him. "Now I get to walk in and see all your jaws drop…. Mwahahahahaa…"<br>"Oh yeah? And how do you know there's going to be any jaw dropping?" he teased.  
>"Because your sister said that's what would happen." She laughed at his astonished expression.<p>

And a couple of hours later, Leah was laughing uncontrollably at the stunned expressions on the boys around her. She had convinced Kaia that a smoking hot costume was definitely called for, and by the amused expression on that particular imprint's face, she currently agreed. Leah had remembered having been to a Greek themed party a year or two ago and she had bought a Greek Goddess styled dress as well. It had been a simple matter to find the right accessories and Kaia was now decked out as the Goddess Artemis. This would have been no matter one way or the other, until one took in the fact that the dress was more of a fitted floor length gown that left little to the imagination. But not because it was revealing; in fact because it concealed so much. The only part of the gown that was revealing was the back, where it plunged from her shoulders to the small of her back, with a few thin wisps of fabric holding it in place. Embry was frozen in place, Paul and Ryan simply stared, the twins were the ones whose jaws had dropped, but Seth seemed like a man possessed. As Leah watched, his emotions went from stunned, to confused, to desire, to jealousy and then finally settled on determined. 'Finally!' Leah though to herself. 'Maybe now he will get off his lazy ass and at least tell her how he feels.'

Meanwhile, Kaia had been hugged and greeted by everyone there, except the one who she wanted to see the most. She had noticed Seth looking at her in disbelief when she had walked through the large tent Rachel had had set up on the beach, and she had barely time to notice that he was dressed as Zorro, before he turned and walked stiffly out of sight. She was just exclaiming over Kim's costume as Princess Jasmine and laughing at Jared's obvious discomfort at being Aladdin, when she felt a warm hand on her arm. Turning, she found Zorro staring down at her, a set look on his face. "Yes Signor, how can I be of service," she questioned. "Does a Goddess ever take time out to dance?" he asked, a slight smirk on his face. Taking her hand, and leading her to the dance floor, Kaia was overcome with a strange sense of Déjà vu. "You know what I'm thinking right now?" she asked him, as he turned to grin at her over his shoulder. "Yeah, how we met, right?" She laughed, not surprised that he had guessed right. He always seemed to get it right, at least as far as she was concerned.

But this time, unlike the last, when he turned to face her, he pulled her close, until she was up against him, and he began to sway them to the beat, never once loosening his grip on her. Gazing into his eyes, she noticed the same intensity that they always seemed to hold. She was just about to open her mouth to ask about it, when he lowered his head to her ear and whispered, "You DO have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen, you know." Stunned that he remembered what he had told her that first time they danced, she could only nod when he took her hand in his and murmured earnestly, "Take a walk with me? Please?"

Once they left the shelter of the tent, the cold wind hit them full force, and Seth cursed internally for forgetting about the weather for a moment. Improvising, he tugged off his costume's cloak and wrapped it around the shivering girl, before tucking her under his arm. Heading for the closest copse of trees, she mentally thanked heaven that her costume included flat sandals. Once under the shelter of the trees, she turned to look at him expectantly. "I have no idea how to say this Kai," he began nervously, calming down when she reached for his other hand as well, barely noticing that they were still holding hands from the tent. "I have honestly, and truly never felt this way about a girl before. You might think I'm nuts, but I honestly feel a lot more than 'like' for you. I also feel like an idiot right about now," he muttered as she began to smile, "but I guess what I am asking is, would you … would you go out with me…?" he stuttered over the last part. Leaning forward, she went up on her toes, before kissing him on the cheek, and then whispering, "What took you so long to ask me Clearwater?"

The relief on his face was almost comical as he picked her up and swung her around before placing her back on her feet and slowly lowering his head to hers. The kiss the night before, in her room was an impulsive peck, that didn't come close to explaining how he felt about her. This one was slower, more intense; a little more raw and a little less chaste. She sighed as they pulled away from each other, "Now that is what you call a kiss Clearwater," she mumbled at him. Grinning, he pulled her to him again and asked, "So, was that a yes?"  
>"No, I just run around kissing boys dressed like a folk hero," came her snarky reply.<br>"Does this mean I can give my girlfriend her birthday present now?" he asked, giddy as a child on Christmas morning. He knew the others would be on his case about his reaction, but right now, he didn't really care. "You already gave me a present, you know?" she smiled at him.  
>"Yeah but this is different," he assured her. "I promise I didn't spend any money on this one, so you can't tell me I went overboard ok?" he continued. She grinned back, not able to help being affected by his infectious good humor. "Ok, lay it on me," she demanded. He pulled something from his pocket and once more, she had tears in her eyes at what he held in his hand. It was an intricately braided bracelet, with a charm attached. The colors included in it were magnificent and blended together in riotous beauty. The charm was a symbol that looked like it was stamped on a medallion, and it looked like jade to her, but she couldn't be sure. "Oh Seth, its beautiful," she murmured, holding out her hand for him to put it on her wrist.<p>

He hesitated. "Are you sure you want to wear it? Its gonna clash with your costume you know…" For her part, she just scowled at him, before raising her free hand to her neck and holding up the necklace she still wore. "Yeah, coz silver and orchids were all the rage back then as well… I don't know if I want such an idiot boyfriend," she mused. Laughing now, he pulled her in for another hug, before kissing her again, leaving them both breathless. Although he felt like he could stay here for the rest of the evening just kissing her or gazing into her eyes, he knew he had to get her back to the tent, and quickly, if he wasn't going to ruin Rachel's plans. "Let's get you back before you freeze to death out here," he said, before scooping her up and carrying her back inside. They had barely walked into the tent, when Rachel appeared and dragged her off somewhere. The twins and Ryan were watching Seth closely and when the goofy expression on his face didn't fade, they cornered him and demanded to know where he had taken Kaia. He looked at the three of them smugly, just as the lights started to dim. Knowing the surprise was about to come, he pushed the twins in front of him and Ryan and muttered under his breath, "A guy has the right to talk to his girlfriend in private you know," as the lights switched off altogether.

Knowing that every shape-shifter in the room had heard his comment and that they could all see him right then, he didn't stop the wide smile that crossed his face. He noticed thumbs up signs and congratulatory messages being mouthed at him from every corner, before the twins laughed softly and Ryan muttered, "About time," just as the lights blazed back on. "Surprise !" screamed the occupants of the tent, at the three dumbstruck birthday people, who were shocked to see a few new occupants that had slipped in, while they had been absorbing Seth's news. Collin and Brady's parents were there, as well as a red head dressed like an old Mafia bad guy, pin-striped suit and all, and an attractive, middle-aged couple. Kaia shrieked as she flew at her best friend, hugging her tightly before embracing the couple with her. While Birthday wishes were being shouted out from around the tent, 3 of the 4 wolves standing just a little away from Kaia and her best friend were aware that a much bigger surprise had just hit the shape-shifter standing with them.

When the red head had arrived, one of them had stiffened, and although Seth hadn't been able to put his finger on it immediately, he had realized that his pack brother had seemed jittery all evening. He had gotten worse around the time the Morgans had arrived outside the tent. The same listlessness that had alternated with sudden periods of heightened awareness. The same shell-shocked expression when he saw her for the first time.

The same thing that had happened to him, and the other wolves, when they had imprinted.

Then Michelle Morgan had walked in and a life was changed forever. Eyes had met across the room and another wolf could officially claim to have found his soulmate. Whether she would want him or not, would be a story they had to figure out, but from the moment her grey eyes had met his black ones; he was a goner.

This was going to be interesting.

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><p><strong>AN: **I love being finally able to get this twist out. I thought it might take 2 chapters at least, but I just couldn't resist. After this extremely long chapter, I feel like being a little demanding, so I am not going to post an update until I get at least 5 guesses as to the identity of the wolf who just imprinted on Michelle. Please review and I promise to reply asap.

Loves!


	14. Another One Bites The Dust

**A/N: **Hi all, sorry for the long wait, but I start my new job on Monday and may not be able to update so often anymore. Maybe once a week at the most?

Sorry about that, but never fear, this will see the finish line, and as one of my comments on the blog requested, there will DEFINITELY be sequels. More than two in fact, because I love them all so much.

Don't forget to review !

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><p><strong>Saturday<strong>

It was another foggy morning in La Push. The red-head walking in front of him turned her head slightly and smiled; continuing down the path she seemed to know intimately. He didn't care where exactly he was being led to, just as long as she was holding his hand. As long as he could feel the softness of her grip, all would be well with his world. He could see the opening in the trees ahead which meant they were at the beach already, and this puzzled him just a little; he could have sworn they needed to walk at least another 5 minutes before the beach hit them. Something was wrong here. Her gentle leading had turned into an urgent tugging on his hand. Towards the strange opening.

This was wrong.

Something was horrifically wrong with this picture. He knew it. Could feel it deep in his bones. A twig snapped, but her normal human hearing hadn't picked up on it. And then he smelled it. That sickly sweet burning, like bleach, that seared his nose and his throat. Terrified now, he grabbed her hand to take her back to the others. To safety. He needed to phase, get his brothers, hunt down the abomination that was hunting them now. But she kept tugging; he couldn't explain to her, with such little time to do it, and he couldn't just phase in front of her with no warning, who knew what the shock would do? In desperation, he tried to stop her, knowing that whichever one of his brothers on patrol would pick up the scent soon enough, and he could defend her until then – shock be damned. Letting go of her hand for a second, he pulled off his shirt, ignoring the quizzical look she shot him, preparing to phase at a moment's notice. As she opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing, he noticed a rustling in the bushes. Immediately stepping in front of her, in a protective crouch, he spotted the blood red eyes of his worst enemy.

The owner of the eyes stepped into the pathway then, grinning like a maniac. He reached for the girl, ignoring the shape-shifter's presence. A terrified look on her face, she called out her companion's name, screaming it when the cold one's hand crushed her upper arm. The shape-shifter in question was frozen. Not with shock, not with fear, but just frozen. Horror and fear for his imprint crashed over him in waves, powerful enough to drown even the strongest shape-shifter the tribe had known. But he could do nothing. He wondered if this was the vampire's power; he knew some of them were gifted. But if he could at least phase, then someone would know what was happening. He tried with all his might to call on that core within himself that would trigger the transformation.  
>But nothing happened. All he could do was watch in impotent rage and terror, as the evil red eyes got closer to his now whimpering imprint. Her screams were muted now, her throat hoarse, clutching her arm in pain. Red met black for a second, then stony ice cold white lips descended to the exposed throat of the helpless girl in the marble like arms. She went back to screaming his name, over and over and over again. In her fear, her voice even sounded different, much hoarser, much deeper. He started to shake, but not the kind that led to phasing, this was different, like an outside force was holding him and heaving.<p>

"Ryan… Ryan dude, come on man. RYAN !," and with that he jumped up, ready to phase and attack immediately. Only to see the inside of his messy room and a worried Seth, flanked by a set of identical and identically disturbed faces. "What… what are you guys doing here? Whats going on? Where's Michelle? Is she ok? For Christ's sake, will someone tell me what the fuck that was?" He was practically screaming the last sentence, and Seth could only thank the spirits that Ryan's mother had already left for work.  
>"Dude, calm down. She's fine. I swear. She really is." Brady soothed, while Collin just looked on, wide-eyed. Ryan sat on the edge of his bed, head in his hands and tried to breathe. The realization that his terror was only the result of a nightmare, was slowly allowing the tension to ease out of his limbs.<br>"Bad dream?," Seth asked, tentatively. Ryan shook his head in response. "More than just a nightmare man, it was like…. It was like it was so real. I could feel it. The helplessness. The smell of them, how scared she was. God! She was terrified and I was frozen. I couldn't save her... I couldn't even save her." He ran his hands over his face, and the fear was still in his eyes.  
>"The most important thing in my universe and I couldn't get her away from the ONE thing I am sworn to protect her from." The others said nothing, allowing their brother to shake off the dream in silence. They didn't ask him what the dream was about, knowing that he would tell them when he was ready, or if he decided to show it to them when he phased.<p>

Collin decided that snapping him out of it was going to take a change of environment, if nothing else. "Ok boys, move it, Wakeh, you have 5 minutes to get your ass dressed. We are getting out of here. It's a Saturday morning, and we have plans."  
>The other 3 looked at him quizzically, so he just rolled his eyes and looked at Seth pointedly, "Didn't your imprint slash girlfriend tell you to come by Rachel's soon?" to which that worthy only nodded, with a silly smile on his face. When Ryan showed no signs of even moving, Collin rolled his eyes and then said, "It's ok if you don't want to come Ryan, I mean the only reason Kai asked us to come hang out is she wanted us to get to know Michelle a little better."<br>Ryan's head snapped up at her name and he narrowed his eyes at Collin. He squatted down next to Ryan, so their heads were on the same level. "Her parents are staying at the hotel in Forks, but Michelle is spending the weekend with Kaia at Rachel's place. Kai wanted the morning to themselves, apparently they had girl stuff to talk about, but she wanted Michelle to get to know her friends here. So I suggest you get your ass out of bed, get dressed and let's get going."  
>Both Brady and Seth laughed at Collin's undiplomatic strategy, although 30 seconds later, it was Collin laughing at them, when Ryan shot out of the room to the bathroom to start getting ready. He would have phased and run straight to Rachel Black's house the way he was, if it hadn't been for Collin coming to the rescue again. He convinced Ryan that showing up half naked and panting, was NOT going to win over his imprint. She had no idea of mystical connections and it was time to play it slightly cool. Stalking into the house and proclaiming eternal devotion was not going to work.<br>Not right then anyway.

While Kaia had been expecting only Seth and the twins to tag along on the tour she had planned to take Michelle on, she was pleasantly surprised to find that Ryan showed up with them. Her surprise faded almost immediately as she caught the blush that lit Michelle's face when he walked in. Turning to Seth, she winked and indicated Ryan who had mumbled a hello at Kaia, before smiling broadly at Michelle and taking up residence on the floor next to the couch where she was sitting. Seth attempted to look like he had no idea what she meant, when she narrowed her eyes at him and raised an eyebrow. Knowing she had her mind set on some match-making, he simply grinned, knowing something she didn't.  
>The spirits had beaten her to it, in this instance.<br>Smirking a little, Kaia dragged them all outside to start showing Michelle around, somehow making sure that Ryan was close at hand. Remembering her talk with Michelle earlier that morning, she had a feeling this birthday visit was going to have some long lasting effects. And from what she could see in the dark eyes of the boy who was gazing at her best friend, they would be worth it.

Ryan, Collin, Brady, Seth, Kaia and Michelle were inseparable for the entire weekend, much to everyone else's amusement. While the twins welcomed her with open arms, recognizing a fellow trouble-maker when they saw one, Seth and Ryan seemed slightly more body-guardish to an outsider. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan had come to the reservation on Saturday evening to have dinner with Rachel and Billy and were pleased to see Kaia so adjusted. Watching from the porch where they were sitting, while the youngsters were gathered around a makeshift bonfire in the front yard, Mrs. Morgan couldn't help the tears that came to her eyes. She missed having Kaia around, and as much as Michelle tried to manage, she knew her daughter missed her terribly as well.  
>Seeing how Kaia barely left her friend's side, made her feel some sort of vindication that what she and her husband were planning, was the right thing to do.<p>

Talking with Billy and Rachel, as well as the others who seemed to drift and out of the house like they lived there, gave Mr. Morgan a feeling of deep peace. He knew how much Kaia valued family and the close-ness they had shared. The people he had met so far all treated her like a much loved younger sister, and from what he could see, she was safer here than anywhere else on the planet. Rachel had taken the senior Morgans into confidence to explain her decision not to let Kaia move back to Seattle with them. While he was concerned, he didn't voice his offer to hire a bodyguard. Taking one look at Paul's massive form and the way he carefully watched Rachel, he couldn't help but notice that this protective stance seemed to include Kaia as well. At least as far as Seth Clearwater was concerned. His wife seemed to be oblivious to this new development, but he knew that it was all an act so she could see how the teenager treated the girl she considered her second daughter. She seemed to be pleased because she impulsively hugged the surprised boy when he helped her serve dessert.

Sitting on the porch and chatting, the hours simply sped by, so they were surprised at the time, when Collin came up the few stairs to make an amusing announcement. "The fair maidens yonder have both succumbed to sweet slumber," he proclaimed imperiously.  
>"Also, they snore pretty bad. Now what are we supposed to do with them? Car, Cliff, or Bed?" he asked a laughing Rachel.<br>"I think we could let Michelle stay here again tonight, if you don't mind Rachel, since we are going back tomorrow evening." Mrs. Morgan missed the suddenly stricken look of the boy whose shoulder Michelle was using for a pillow.  
>Rachel didn't.<br>"Sure Mrs. Morgan," she murmured. "Don't wake them," she added, "the boys will carry them in, they do that for Kaia sometimes, she seems to do this falling asleep thing pretty often."

Taking that as their cue, Seth gently lifted Kaia into what was fast becoming a familiar position, carrying her bridal style into the house, and depositing her on her bed, slipping off her converse shoes while he did so. Ryan looked warily at Mr. Morgan before moving his shoulder from under Michelle's head, and pulling her into his arms. He was momentarily stunned at the feeling of rightness that crashed over him as she snuggled closer to him. Holding her like this was the closest he had come to any physical contact with her, apart from a few electrically charged brushes of their hands during the day.  
>Clutching her to his chest, he followed in the same direction as Seth, missing the knowing smile that Mrs. Morgan sent at her husband. Placing her on the spare mattress that Rachel had put out, he tenderly moved a lock of hair that had fallen over her face, before realizing what he had done, and then he hurried out of the room, stopping only to gently place a soft blanket over her sleeping form.<p>

The next day, Ryan was at Seth's house at dawn, shaking his pack-brother awake in a daze. "Dude, I know you imprinted, but seriously, its 5 o clock in the freaking morning…. And why are you wearing yesterday's clothes?" questioned a sleepy Seth. "I…. I spent the night under their window. After that dream I had… I just.. . I couldn't just leave her unprotected," he muttered defensively. Seth just grinned at him, and replied, "She's your imprint man, I get it. Now why the hell am I awake this early?" At this question Ryan looked stricken. "She leaves today Seth. She is going back to Seattle and I have no idea when I'm going to be able to see her again." Now grim, Seth looked at his brother's anguished expression and clapped him on the back. "Go take a shower, Leah will be back from patrol soon, so get out of the bathroom before she gets back. Then you can wear some of my clothes and we can go wake them up. Ok?"  
>"Deal," mumbled Ryan, stumbling off down the hallway. Getting together some clothes, Seth wrote a quick note to his mother, before ducking into the shower the second Ryan was done. Barely 15 minutes later, Seth was knocking softly on Kaia's window. A sleepy, "Wha ?" made him smile. Apparently his imprint was part of the sane crowd who despised waking up this early.<br>A few seconds later, the window was opened and Kaia's sleepy face peeked out. "What are you guys doing ? Its so freaking early, and damn if its not chilly out there. Come on in… but shhh… I think Rachel and Billy are definitely asleep." Both boys make quick work of slipping through the window and Seth caught a distinctive male chuckle from Rachel's room. Apparently Paul hadn't missed their entrance, and Kaia was oblivious to the fact that he usually stayed over. After hugging Kaia, Seth turned to Ryan and whatever it was that he wanted to say remained unsaid as he caught sight of Ryan's face.  
>Puzzled and concerned.<br>Only then did he notice what he was looking at. The empty spare mattress next to Kaia's bed.  
>No Michelle.<br>Just blankets, neatly folded, and the pillow placed on top of them.

Before anyone could say a word, the door opened and a figure garbed in an oversized sweatshirt, and not much more, tip-toed in. "Oopsie?" came her surprised half question. Ryan was struck absolutely speechless. He had been outside the window all night and the half an hour he was away, she had woken up, snuck out of the room, taken a shower and was currently standing in front of him wearing his sweatshirt, which she had borrowed the previous night, and a towel around her head.  
>He was ready to swear that his head was about to explode from sensory overload. A nervous giggle interrupted his staring and he flushed. "We knew you were leaving today, so we thought we would make the most of it today," he heard Seth explain to Kaia. "How does breakfast at the diner sound?"<br>"Seth, I can see my clock from her… if its really 5:42 in the morning; you are going to feel some pain."  
>"Do I look like I want to be awake this early? Blame the morning person here," he replied, pointing to Ryan. He barely had a chance to get in a retort of his own, before Michelle swung to face him and exclaimed, "Oh yaaaaay… I always get stuck with Grumpy here, she hates early mornings." She linked arms with him, ignoring the fact that her bare legs were giving him thought processes he didn't want to have, at least at this point. "So what's the plan boys?"<br>Ryan didn't really care what the plan might be, but he had a strange feeling he was going to turn into someone who loved mornings.

That evening, Kaia and Michelle hugged for what seemed like hours, before Mr. and Mrs. Morgan took their turn. They all piled into the truck, for the long drive back to Seattle. Ryan had stuck around for the farewell as well, and neither of the senior Morgans seemed surprised. As they pulled out of the driveway, Ryan strained to watch them until they were out of the sight, then quietly snuck to the back of the house, where he phased and raced towards the highway. The others still standing in the driveway, heard an agonized howl in the distance, and the pack knew that their brother was going to be spending the night in Seattle. Brady nodded at Seth and hugged Kaia before going straight to Sam and Emily's. Sam was still on patrol but Emily was home. "Hey Emi?" he called. "Can you please tell Sam that I'm covering Ryan's patrols tonight?"

She said nothing. Just smiled and nodded. He gave her a grim smile and left, knowing he would need a couple of hours sleep before patrol. This was not going to be easy for Ryan to manage, but they were brothers, not just pack-mates. And they would do anything they could to help him.

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><p><strong>2 weeks later<strong>

They had finally figured out a routine, where Ryan would cover some of the twin's patrols and they would cover for him whenever he had to go to Seattle. He did this at least once or twice a week, and with the speed they reached as wolves, it was a journey of barely 15 minutes. Thankfully, Kaia had gotten it into her head that Ryan's sudden interest in anything Michelle related, was all thanks to her awesome skills as matchmaker. Seth simply indulged her with this theory, and smiled to himself, knowing she was going to be miffed when she learned the truth.

Speaking of which, he was currently sitting on Rachel's couch, surrounded by Paul, Jake, Sam, Jared, Emily, Kim and Rachel herself. He needed to know how he was going to tell her about it, and he had asked Brady and Collin to keep her occupied after school for the evening so he could talk to them without the possibility of her interrupting. His decision to ask the other imprinted couples for help, however, looked like it was going to backfire on him. When he had asked for advice, what he hadn't expected was the way the others would tease him, throw useless hints his way, and spend more time laughing at his predicament than actually helping. The most help he got was from the imprints themselves, who knew that he was nervous about this, because of his feelings for Kaia, apart from the imprinting.

While Kim was explaining to him, that taking her for a walk in the woods and then phasing, was not the way to do it, amidst Jared's complaints that he didn't have much to work with, the phone rang. Rachel rolled her eyes at all of them and left the room to answer it. She came back in with a bemused expression on her face. "Hey Seth? Can you give me a lift into town?" she asked. "Err.. sure Rach," he replied, slightly puzzled at why she was asking him and not Paul. "Where to?"  
>"The Police Station…" she deadpanned.<br>The room went silent, all joking halted.  
>"What?" exclaimed Jake. "Yeah, I have bail money to put up apparently," she went on. By now every single one of them was staring at her like she had suddenly announced that she was a Martian and decided to run for President.<br>"Wait," interrupted Jake, a light dawning, "Who got arrested?"

"Kaia, Brady and Collin"

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><p><strong>AN: ** REVIEW !

What on EARTH could they have gotten upto?

And congratulations to everyone who guessed Ryan, when I asked who they thought imprinted on Michelle Morgan.

Next chapter will be next week, but only if I see lots of reviews People !


	15. Still Waters Run Deep

A/N: Please, please, please try and read my one-shot 'Blood Bonds' before you read this chapter, or if you want to, then read it after, but a major event in this chapter will make MUCH more sense if you happen to read that first. As always, read away, and let me know what you think.

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><p><strong>End of November<strong>

"So is Kaia still grounded?" asked Paul with a grin, as he helped Rachel unload the groceries from her truck. "Yeah… although I feel really weird grounding her," replied Rachel helplessly. "I mean, technically, I am just her guardian, but I'm the same age as her older brother. But after Carl and Hannah grounded Collin and Brady, I couldn't really leave her out. They DID get suspended from school after all. But I hate grounding her for doing something I would have done in her place. Arrghghghghhg… this is so frustrating," she continued.  
>Paul wrapped his large arms around her and soothed, "Babe, Collin's ex was WAY out of line with the stuff she was saying. She deserved a good punch in the face. I'm just glad Kaia gave it to her, not like any of us could do it."<br>Rachel plopped herself on the sofa and glared at Paul, before sighing, "Paul, a girl mouthed off to her and the twins, she left their table, walked over and punched her without saying a word. And this was HER side of the story. I don't even want to hear what that utter cow had to say. Remind me again why Collin dated her?"  
>Paul laughed and sat down next to her. "You realize that the way she stood up for him means any one of the pack would kill for her right. Well... not that we wouldn't have before, but now its more like, we would help her hide the body if she did it… that kind of thing."<br>"Paul… I just hope she isn't too mad at me… I mean, even though I grounded her, I know Jake has been sneaking in Guitar Hero, but I couldn't even bring myself to say anything. I feel so lousy… maybe a week's grounding is enough right? … But the twins got grounded for 2 months, and they were just bystanders… God this guardian crap sucks." She grumbled, cuddling into his side.

"You know what?" Paul spoke. "Lets just ignore the fact that she is supposed to be grounded. There's a bonfire tomorrow and you can just tell her about it like everything's fine. Don't even bring up grounding, ok? We can all go to the bonfire, chill out and just have a good time. Kaia has been missing Michelle even more since her birthday, and Ryan is about ready to be shipped off to the nuthouse, because of the same thing. We ALL need a break, his head isn't the pleasantest place to be right now."  
>He frowned, in worry for his brother's health. Miserable without his imprint, Ryan looked terrible, and the only times they saw him any different, was after he snuck out to Seattle and back. Michelle on the other hand, was beginning to show signs of proving Emily's theory that the imprints felt the pull as well. She had been getting sick lately, and just feeling terrible in general. Her parents were worried and a doctor's visit had proved there was nothing physically wrong with her.<br>Kaia had made sure she and Ryan had exchanged numbers, and texting had turned into IM and Emails now. Ironically, even though that helped a little, even she felt better every time Ryan was in Seattle and camped out, invisible, under her bedroom window.

The next night at the bonfire, even Leah had to smile to see how comfortable Kaia was, cuddled up next to Seth and sharing a blanket. He was extremely solicitous, offering her something warm to drink every little while, since she had seemed like she was coming down with a cold earlier. Listening to the legends as Billy told them, left her spellbound.  
>She leaned against Seth, sitting between his legs, her back against his chest, and was awestruck at the history of the tribe. When Billy related the story of Taha Aki and the spirit wolves, the shape-shifters that protected the tribe, Seth felt her start before she darted a nervous look at him through narrowed eyes. He raised an eyebrow at her, but she just shook her head. Still, he didn't miss her looking around at the others speculatively.<br>She suspected something, but he was sure she hadn't put her finger on it yet. True to form, by the end of the evening, she was half asleep, and was only too willing for Seth to carry her back to his truck so he could drive her home. She took this for granted, even though Paul and Rachel could have given her a ride, and Seth was thankful for this, because he had no idea what he would use for an excuse if she asked about it.  
>Climbing into the driver's seat, he looked over to the passenger seat, and was caught by surprise to see her staring back at him, wide-eyed. "Are you ok?" he asked, suddenly tense, wondering how much she had caught on to, from her intent listening.<p>

"Just thinking," she mumbled back. "I remember talking to someone when I got to homeroom that first day at school." She shifted her gaze to the road. "They were surprised that I was hanging out with you guys… they said something about you being a gang, but another girl interrupted and said you guys called yourselves protectors… " she glanced at him sideways and he forced himself to loosen his grip on the steering wheel. "Sounds a lot like your ancestors huh?"  
>He swallowed convulsively, glad for the darkness in the cab of the truck. "You never know when protectors might come in handy though… lots of stuff out there. Especially when you have someone worth protecting." He chanced a glance at her, when he heard her heartbeat suddenly speed up.<br>"Yeah, I guess so," she murmured in reply, leaning against his arm, and getting drowsy again. She was asleep before they got to Rachel's and he paused for a moment, before taking her inside.

How much had she begun to guess?

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><p><strong>The next day – Saturday<strong>

Rachel grabbed her jacket from the stand next to the door and gave Paul a quick kiss, telling him she was heading to the cliffs. "So Kaia is in the backyard, doing some home-work, I am going for a walk, so whenever you guys are done with your little pack meeting here, let me know ok, I'm carrying my cell phone. Why the urgent meeting though?" she asked. Paul paused, and then checking that Kaia was still safely in the backyard, sitting at the little picnic table out there, he told Rachel, "Seth thinks she has us figured out, most of it anyway, we just need to think about whether he should tell her immediately or if he can wait. If he decides to tell her right now, then the pack is here for support."

She nodded and then kissed him again before heading up to the cliffs. Paul watched her walk away, a small smile playing on his lips. A year ago, his sole emotion had been anger and sometimes a righteous fury at his fate. Now he couldn't imagine his life without Rachel in it. She was truly his everything.  
>Just as that thought crossed his mind, as if she could hear him, she turned and waved, before continuing on her way. He thought he saw her pulling out her phone, when she was blocked from view by the trees. He shook his head at how well she knew him, and then went back inside.<p>

Leah and Jake walked in together, laughing at something, and Paul couldn't resist a jab at Leah. They still squabbled, - like children, as Rachel liked to point out – but without the earlier rancor. She rolled her eyes at him and opened her mouth to retort, when she froze, staring past him. Jake looked up at her sudden silence and Paul tried to see what she was staring at, but could see nothing of amazing interest in Rachel's laundry basket, perched on top of the counter behind him.  
>With no warning whatsoever, Leah dropped to her knees, holding her head in her hands, gasping for air. Worried now, Jake knelt next to her, while Seth leaned over his sister, wondering what had happened.<br>The room was dead silent now, and they could all hear her struggling for air. "Paul… PAUL" she finally rasped out; that particular wolf being the most surprised of them all to hear her calling his name. Crouching next to her, he tried to help her up when she grabbed the front of his shirt and stared at him with terror-filled eyes.  
>"What?" he snapped at her.<br>"Rachel… cliffs… get to Rachel," was all she managed to choke out before almost collapsing onto the floor, shaking.

The name of his imprint was all that was needed to snap Paul out of whatever surprised funk he was in. He just sprinted out the door, and phased, racing to the cliff-tops where he knew she was. Hers was the only scent he could smell, so he knew she wasn't in danger from a vampire.  
>A small part of his mind was angry with Leah for scaring him like that, when he noticed her expression. She was sitting awkwardly on an outcropping of rock, phone on the forest floor beside her, where it looked like it had fallen from her limp hand.<br>Hearing his approach, she turned to face him and that was when his heart plummeted. He had seen terror in people's eyes before, when they were hunting Laurent. He had seen confusion, when he had tried to explain to Rachel about imprinting on her. He had seen hurt, anger, upset and the whole gamut of human emotion thanks to the pack mind-link and shared memories.

But up until that exact moment, he had never looked in someone's eyes and saw such utter desolation.

Concentrating so hard on his imprint, he missed the soft footsteps that approached from behind, but the scent told him it was only one of his brothers. Whoever it was, stopped, dropped something at his forelegs, and then took off, back the way they had come. He supposed he should thank them for bringing him a pair of pants. Phasing back, he slipped them on, and then gathered up his stricken girl in his arms.  
>Once she was ensconced in his warm embrace, the tears broke loose. "Paul… God Paul…" she sobbed. "They found him. They found Jason." He tensed. These were not happy tears, so finding him was obviously not the best thing that could have happened. He needed to know exactly what happened, because the gut-wrenching misery he felt, wasn't coming from himself.<br>He was picking it up because of their connection. "Rach, baby, you need to tell me what happened, please baby… please…" he murmured into her hair.  
>"They killed him Paul… those bastards killed him. He did NOTHING… Nothing… and they killed him because they thought he was a threat… " and then her words became incoherent through the tears, but she had said enough.<p>

Jason was dead, and now they had to tell his sister.

After Rachel had calmed enough to sit on her own for a minute, Paul quickly stripped and phased, staying wolf long enough to let Jake and the others know that she was physically fine. This came just in time because as he phased, he could sense Jake getting ready to come out after them, his concern for his sister overshadowing his Alpha instincts. Pulling on the borrowed shorts, he recognized Embry's scent and made a mental note to thank his brother.  
>Turning to Rachel, he hugged her, and then swung her into his arms to carry her back to the house. Once at their porch, she motioned for him to lower her to the ground, and resting her forehead on his chest, asked him in a low voice for the wolves to give them some privacy, by staying out of the backyard. He nodded and watched as she swallowed and then moved to the rear of the house.<p>

Surprisingly, Kaia had stayed relatively unaware of everything that was going on. She was sitting at the table, home-work spread out in front of her, iPod blaring. She was used to this large group of people that wandered in and out of each other's houses like they did, so today was not really an exception. There was nothing for her to notice. She had no idea that her world was coming crashing down around her.

Paul watched as Rachel slowly approached the bench, and Kaia grinned up at her, pulling out the earphones. He saw Kaia's expression fade as she caught sight of Rachel's tear-stained face. Rachel said beside her, and even though Paul could have easily listened in, he struggled to not hear what they were saying. Even his heart felt like it was breaking as he saw Kaia's shoulders suddenly hunch – like she had been hit. He watched Rachel reach out to hug her, and then he saw her stand from the picnic table and murmur something before turning to walk away.  
>Despite Rachel's request, the pack couldn't ignore one of their own in pain. And she was definitely one of their own now. She was Seth's imprint, the twin's best friend and adopted by the rest of them in some capacity or the other. The way she had stood up for Collin in the diner had been just another instance of her unconditional induction into the pack. They all stood there, ranged together like the family they were.<br>Seth, tuned to put his imprint's needs first, knew that she didn't want any contact right then, but even he could only stop himself after he had taken one step towards her. The twins surged forward as well, but she just gazed beyond them and said in a quiet voice, "I'd like to be left alone… please… I just want to be alone right now." The broken tone coupled with the dry-eyed misery they saw before them was enough to melt the coldest of hearts. As she walked away, the wolves as one turned to each other. While Paul had tried not to listen in, the others now knew what had happened.  
>Leah broke away from Jared's supportive hold on her, and walked to Rachel, where she said nothing, just opened her arms and allowed the other girl to cling to her and finally sob to her heart's content. Paul knew he should do something, knew that his imprint needed him, but like the other males in the pack, he knew what she needed right now, was her best friend. He was just lucky that one of them was around to be of comfort.<br>Because that day, Rachel Black had lost her other best friend.

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><p><strong>Seth POV<strong>

Her brother was dead? I had no idea how Kaia was even standing up, let alone walking completely normally, towards the beach. If I had just heard this about Leah, I bet I would have been closer to comatose with grief.  
>And why wasn't she crying?<br>Didn't girls do that when they got bad news? I could see Rachel crying hard on Leah's shoulder, I remember Leah herself crying a lot when she and Sam had broken up. I also remember the tears she thought she could hide from me when the phasing had begun. My mom had said it was healthy to cry, get your emotions out.  
>So why wasn't Kaia crying yet? Was she still in shock? I knew this had to be killing her; I knew how much she adored her brother. I was worried now, what should I do. I wasn't feeling the pull as much, so I knew her first need was to be left alone, but I couldn't just leave her out there.<br>What if something happened?  
>A vampire?<br>A human mugger?  
>Even a stray wave. I spun on my heel, determined to go get her, but Sam stepped in front of me. "Give her some time Seth, she needs to mourn." I nodded, but was determined not to let her stay there unprotected. I strode towards the tree-line, shedding my clothes as I went. Sam must have known what I was going to do, because he let me go. I didn't need my super-senses to know that the twins would be right behind me. If Kaia was my soul-mate, then she was the little sister the twins had always wanted. They were triplets now, their mother liked to joke.<p>

I phased and headed straight for the beach. I knew a point where I could sit in the woods and see the entire beach without having to turn my head. I stopped there and was gratified to see her sitting not very far at all. If she spoke, I would even be able to hear her words. That was convenient. The twins flopped down on the ground beside me, and I felt every ounce of their sympathy and concern, both for Kaia and myself, like it was my own. They worried about her, a lot actually.  
>We stayed there, and I could see she hadn't moved at all since she had sat down. Not when dusk began to fall, and not even when the wind began to pick up off the water, probably chilling her to the bone. It was as if she didn't even feel it.<br>I couldn't stand waiting around anymore.  
>I got up, shook myself off, and told the twins to stay put. I went back home, grabbed some clothes for myself and stuffed them in a backpack, along with an old blanket I had. I then phased back, grabbing the backpack between my teeth, before heading back to the beach. When I got there, I knew that nothing had changed since my departure. Phasing, changing and then walking up to where she was seated in the sand, took me all of 3 minutes.<br>The stark whiteness of her face and the bluish tinge to her lips had me swearing at myself for waiting this long. She barely looked up, or even acknowledged that I was there. I sat down behind her, the way we had at the bonfire. Wrapping the blanket around us both, I felt her shiver before relaxing against my chest. Her icy hands folded around herself and once more I thanked the spirits for the high temperatures we wolves ran at. Leaning down I whispered, "I'm here Kaia… I'm here for you. I always will be."

I was met with silence until she finally whispered, "That's what he said too… when our parents died." The pain I heard in her voice was enough to knock me on my ass had I been standing. From behind us, in the trees, I heard 2 howls go up at the moon. Filled with pain, hurt, and love for their sister; the girl I held in my arms.

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><p><strong>AN:** Go ahead and hate me for doing this. It definitely won't be as much as I hate myself. I have to go eat Oreos to feel better now.

Please review!  
>It will probably be the only thing making me feel better.<br>Sigh!


	16. May Angels Lead You In

**A/N: **Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter that said you all didn't hate me for what happened. Hope posting this one so soon makes up for it. As always, please Review!

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><p>I lost track of the time we spent on the beach, but I couldn't tell if she ever fell asleep. Her breathing never varied, not once, and I couldn't bring myself to bend over her to check, scared that I might disturb her. Finally morning came, and I moved a little, drawing her closer to me, knowing that it was time to go back to the house. The twins had stayed in the trees all night, watching over us.<br>I knew Sam had come by at least once, and I was sure Embry was there right now. Paul would have stayed at the house to watch Rachel. Realizing that she was now awake, I slowly stood, drawing her with me. She watched the waves for a few more minutes before turning to face me. Her eyes were so empty, I wanted to drop to my knees the way Leah had the previous day.  
>I opened my mouth to ask if she was ok, and all she did was shake her head. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders I guided her back to the house, Brady and Collin following at a safe distance. Once we got there, Rachel told her that we would be driving up to Seattle the next morning, since that was when the police would turn over the body to the family. Her uncle had already made arrangements for the funeral to be the same day.<br>It was to be a closed coffin, so she didn't even get a final goodbye.

The rest of the day, she stayed in her room, staring out the window at nothing. She ignored us all. When Rachel dragged her out at dinner time to at least eat something, she stayed long enough to drink down some soup, but the second I walked into the room, she fled.  
>That hurt.<br>Collin said she had showed signs of wanting to bolt when he and Brady had visited earlier, but her flight had left something aching inside me. I wanted to be around her, to hold her, to get her anything she needed. I wanted to be what Paul was to Rachel. But I could do nothing, not when she had no idea of imprinting or the shape-shifting.

The next day, we were all up bright and early, cars were refueled and whoever was going to Seattle with Rachel and Kaia were waiting on Rachel's porch steps for them to wake up and come outside. Paul, Rachel, Jared, Kim and Emily were going in Paul's truck. Sam, Jake and Leah were staying behind to patrol. Kaia sat beside me, with Embry next to her; she looked so tiny sitting between us that it made my heart seize up just a little.  
>Ryan and the twins sat in the back seat, Ryan looking almost as bad as Kaia, knowing that Michelle was taking it just as hard as she did. Jason was fond of Michelle and treated her on par with his own baby sister. This was hurting them all. Even after Rachel had explained the circumstances, I couldn't understand why anyone would have wanted to kill him. It seemed so senseless. But at least they had all been caught. Rachel's old contact had broken the rules of the agency, to call Rachel and tell her that he had personally arrested the head of the ring that had caused all the trouble, and it was now closed down for good.<p>

All the way to Seattle, Kaia sat quiet and still, not eating, barely drinking, and not saying a word. Not once. She hadn't spoken since the beach, when she had said just one sentence to me. I knew Rachel was getting worried and I hoped that being with Michelle would break though the walls she had put up. She still hadn't shed a single tear, and I was now getting extremely edgy. She had to mourn, she had to let it out, or it was going to eat at her, on the inside. We pulled into the driveway of the Morgan's house, following Rachel's truck. Only later did I learn that Ryan had showed Paul the way in his memories the previous night. Kaia didn't seem to notice. Until the door on the porch swung open violently and a red headed missile launched herself off the porch and right at her. Luckily I moved to stand just behind them both at the time of impact, grabbing them so nobody fell over. Ryan looked at me, thanks in his eyes. I just nodded and turned to see Mrs. Morgan come hurrying out, eyes red. She hugged Kaia and then Rachel, whispering words of comfort.  
>Then, to our surprise, she hugged each and every one of the rest of us, in turn, starting with Ryan. No-one was more shocked than him. Especially when Mr. Morgan joined us outside, and followed his wife's example. Then, he ushered all of us into the house, offering us something to eat or drink before we headed to the funeral home.<p>

When we got there, I noticed Kaia immediately stiffen, and a large woman came over. She took Kaia by the arms and looked her over, the way one would a horse for sale. I disliked her immediately. All it took for Ryan to hate her, was one look at Michelle's face. She glared at the newcomer with such venom, it took me by surprise. I learned that day, that Michelle was the type to love, or hate, with great passion.  
>The woman was Kaia's aunt. She and her husband were Kaia's only living relatives now that Jason was gone. They had never approved of Kaia's father's choice of a bride. Her mother had been an artist, free-spirited and beautiful. She had been devoted to her husband and adored her children until a car crash had taken them both away. Kaia had once said, that the only thing she had in common with her relatives, was the surname they shared.<br>Her uncle came by then, her father's brother, and I gave thanks that she looked nothing like them. He looked us over, as if wondering if we outsiders would cause a scene. Even thought Kaia still wasn't talking, I saw her lift her chin and step forward slightly, as if she was ready to do battle. It made me proud that she would stand up for us. But he said nothing, just motioned to the hall.

Years later, I would be able to recall every word spoken at that funeral. The reading at the ceremony, the eulogy that a friend from college had given, the prayers spoken over his grave.  
>I would remember them all so clearly because I knew exactly when Kaia flinched. I knew which words made her wince, which prayers made her close her eyes in pain. The hymn sung by a youngster in the choir, which forced her to look at the coffin in front of her with her hand over her chest.<br>Michelle sat next to her the whole time, flanked by Ryan and myself. Mr. Morgan had looked at us curiously when we had taken up our positions, but had done nothing, just nodded at Ryan after a moment. With their arms intertwined, they leaned into each other, drawing strength from their bond as almost-sisters.  
>Once the ceremony was over, Kaia's obnoxious uncle came up to us to tell us there was a wake being held at their home, but he would understand if we couldn't make it. This made Paul speak up and say that we would see them there. Paul always loved a good confrontation, and this man was asking for some serious confronting. Kaia had slipped back into her zombie like state, and the wake seemed to pass around her un-noticed.<p>

When I noticed Kaia leaving the room quietly, I followed, alone. Ryan was worried about Michelle by then. She seemed to be trying to be strong for everyone, and he would know if she was close to losing it. Once we had reached the house for the wake, Mrs. Morgan had asked her husband to take her home.  
>She was too distraught and she didn't want to upset Kaia any further. Without too much consideration, Ryan had approached them, and offered to get Michelle home safely, so they could leave if they needed to. They had looked at him, Mrs. Morgan, with fresh tears in her eyes, and Mr. Morgan, with a certain kind of pride, at his offer, and agreed. After they had left and Kaia slipped outside, Michelle seemed to deflate. The strong front she was keeping up for her closest ones disappeared and she leaned into Ryan, finally allowing the tears to overcome her.<p>

Outside, I wasn't surprised to be joined by the twins as I tried to figure out in which direction my imprint had gone. Following her unique scent that I knew so well, I walked down the pathway that seemed to wind behind the house. It came to a low stone wall, which we easily vaulted over, and that was when I recalled Kaia once telling me, that her father and his brother had been left houses on adjoining properties. Their own father had built them, and he had wanted his sons to have them. So that must mean we were on the land that her parents had owned, and which would now be left to her. I swallowed once. This seemed like a big place. I had never once considered that Kaia's family might have been rich, or at least well-to-do. I just assumed they were like every other normal family. Shaking off these thoughts, I concentrated on what was important right then. Finding my imprint.

The scent led me to a large tree, overshadowing a tiny little ornamental pond. This spot was hidden from her uncle's house, and I knew she was up in the tree. I got closer and was surprised to suddenly spot a tree-house nestled in the branches above us. The twins looked at each other and then at me, knowing that I got first dibs on going up. But I considered that first. She had been avoiding me the whole time. Since we had left the beach, she wouldn't even stay in the room if I was there. But I had to know she was ok, so I pushed my doubts aside, and went up. Poking my head through the entrance first, so she wouldn't be alarmed, I went in, followed almost instantaneously by Brady and then Collin. She sat in a corner, on what looked like a raggedy old cushion, and clutching a large blue sweatshirt to herself.

She looked up, and for the first time, since she had heard the news, I could see tears form in her eyes. Not wanting to set her back again, I was about to move so that Collin or maybe Brady could comfort her, when I saw it. She moved towards me, her hand outstretched. And then she said the one thing I had been waiting to hear for the past 2 days. My name. "Seth," she rasped, her voice hoarse from disuse.

And that was it. I moved forward and grabbed her in my arms as she finally broke-down, sobbing as if her heart would break. For all I knew it was already broken. But she was finally mourning, finally allowing herself to accept her grief. As she cried, I felt the tight knot in my chest begin to loosen, and I knew that it was because the healing had begun.  
>She would hurt for a long time, but she would never have to deal with it alone.<br>I felt a slight pressure on my shoulder and barely heard Brady mutter, "I'm going to tell the others where we are. Collin's staying at the bottom of the tree if you need anything. See you back at the house bro." He then quickly brushed a hand over the top of Kaia's head, before scooting out of the tree-house and down the ladder.

A while later, when the tears had started to abate, Kaia looked up at me, and said, "I'm sorry I kept running away from you, I just.. I didn't want you to be around if I started crying. I didn't want you seeing me like that."  
>I took her face in my hands and looked her in the eye before I spoke. "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met. I want to be there for you Kai… and it doesn't matter what its about… I want to be there whenever you need me." I dropped a quick kiss on her forehead, before helping her down the ladder. Collin grabbed her into a quick hug before walking back to the house with us. The others were already outside and climbing into the cars, and I knew I had Brady to thank for that. At least now Kaia could avoid having to talk to her annoying uncle and aunt.<p>

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><p>The entire drive back to La Push, Embry seemed on edge. He was driving this leg, since Kaia had started to fall asleep and I had volunteered to be her pillow. So she was now curled up against my side, head against my chest, and Embry was in the driver's seat.<br>I kept noticing him twitching and constantly checking the rear-view mirror. When he suddenly swerved into the emergency lane, only to pull out his cell-phone, I nearly lost my temper with him. The only thing keeping me from yelling was the brunette in my arms. I only got more annoyed when I heard his conversation. He had pulled us over to call Paul?  
>This was ridiculous.<br>By the time we got to La Push, I was ready to phase and hamstring Embry. It was lucky that we stopped to let Jared and Kim off at her place. As we pulled up in front of Rachel's, I was already trying to figure out how to move out from under Kaia, get to Embry, kill him, and then get back to Kaia to get her inside the house. This would not have normally been a problem, but I would have really liked to do it without waking her up.

This decision was taken out of my hands by my imprint suddenly jerking awake, and looking around confusedly. I frowned a little. It would be hard to kill Embry if she knew what I was upto. Oh well. Distracted as I was, I only then noticed Embry and Paul standing to the side, conversing in low, urgent tones. Low to the others, that is, not to the rest of us pack members. Why did he and Paul think someone was following us? Who would follow us? And why? I mean, the only danger we could think of, that we wouldn't have smelled, was… Oh God… Jason had been killed. What if… what if they had someone staking out the funeral… what if they knew Kaia was here? My brain went into overdrive then.  
>I noticed Jake melt out of the shadows at the end of the driveway and join Paul and Embry.<br>I sensed rather than saw Collin and Brady flank me, pushing Kaia in between, so we almost surrounded her. Before she could protest, we noticed that Embry, Ryan and Paul had surrounded Rachel in the same way. Kaia was confused now, I could feel it. Jake was the quintessential Alpha. The air of authority that enveloped him was absolute right now. He stood closer to the porch, looking around with alert, suspicious eyes. It was moments like these that made you realize he had really been meant for the role of 'Leader of the Pack'. Pun intended.

Thoroughly confused now, Rachel twisted in Paul's grip to look at Kaia, but then froze, staring at the driveway.  
>It was funny really. We had all been so concentrated on looking around for danger, we hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary staring us right in the face. I guess all of us had gotten used to being able to smell our kind of danger… our kind of enemies. Humans tended to slip under the radar. We noticed them, just not as our primary threat. If they ever posed one, we were able to handle it, even outnumbered. Watching Rachel's stricken expression, Kaia turned to look in the same direction.<br>Her reaction was instantaneous. She went rigid, gasping in quick short breaths.  
>Rachel did the exact opposite. I saw her almost collapse in Paul's arms, before taking a stumbling half-step forward.<p>

That was when I caught the scent. Clean, slightly spicy, very masculine. Human then. But a threat? In the same moment that my nose was processing the new development, my eyes were going over what had Kaia and Rachel in such a gripping thrall.  
>There was a deep blue Chevy Camaro parked in front of Billy's place. Might have been a 67, the voice in the back of my head said. I tried to tell it to shut up without feeling ridiculous. Our imprints might be in danger and my brain was wondering about the make of the car in front of us?<br>Just then another part of my brain kicked in.  
>Chevy Camaro?<br>Deep Blue?  
>Restored Classic?<br>Alarm bells were going off in my head. I knew this car. Not knew it exactly… but heard a LOT about it. Michelle and Kaia had talked about it non-stop when they heard Ryan was a fan of muscle cars. I remembered being very surprised at how much Michelle knew about cars. But the most important part of the car conversation was filtering through right now.  
>As the knowledge of whose car it was made its way to the surface, the scent of the stranger suddenly got stronger. 'This is Jason's car,' my mind was screaming, as the scent hit me again. It was a human scent, but I knew it was a man. I couldn't think straight anymore, Kaia was shaking now, and Rachel seemed to have lost all command of her legs, leaning against Paul like he was the only thing keeping her from blowing away.<p>

When it looked like Jake was about to lose it and phase, to protect his pack, imprints and family, a deep voice spoke from the darkness of the porch.

"Hey Munchkin… Long time no see…"

Time stopped.

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><p><strong>AN:** Well?


	17. Someone Like You

**A/N**: Hey guys, Sorry for the excessively long wait, but personal issues had a lot to do with my bout of writer's block.

In the space of 4 months my family has lost 2 much loved members to Lung Cancer. Neither one lived in the same country even, and the only symptoms they displayed was a prolonged cough. They both passed within 2 months of their diagnosis because it was too far gone already.

So this extremely long Author's Note is for one reason only; if you, or a family member, is suffering from a cough for more than a week, please, PLEASE see a doctor. It could be your life on the line.

As always, your reviews have brightened up my day when I desperately, desperately needed it.

Loves

And now, on with the story. I hope you likey!

This chapter starts out in Seth POV, but that will change about halfway through.

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><p><em>"Hey Munchkin… Long time no see…"<em>

All of us just stood there, frozen in shock. We heard what the man on the porch had said. We had also 'heard' what Kaia had told Embry that day under the bleachers. We all knew her brother's nickname for her. But we had just come from his funeral. It was surreal, the way we all just stood there, watching, waiting for something to happen.

And then, Rachel seemed to gather her wits and croaked,

"Michael?"

That seemed to change everything. The atmosphere shifted. I knew we had just come from Jason Reynold's funeral, but there had been a slight tinge of hope, when I had figured out who the car belonged to. A small wisp of wishful thinking, that maybe he wasn't really dead. While my practical mind said this was not possible, I hadn't been able to stop myself.  
>The way Kaia slumped a little when she heard Rachel's voice made me realize that she too had nursed a momentary hope that her brother was still alive.<p>

Rachel seemed to be in a daze... Still holding on to Paul, she took another stumbling step forward, before realizing that holding on to her boyfriend's bulky frame was at cross-purposes with moving any more. She met his eyes, letting him know with that one glance that she was ok.

It always amazed me to see how easily the wolves and their imprints could communicate with just some eye contact and barely any words. But then I realized that it wasn't just them. I had seen my parents do it multiple times. I had seen it happen with Collin and Brady's parents too. But with the imprints, it was just like we flash-forwarded past the time it took for them to get to that level.

Forcing my mind to concentrate on the present, I saw Paul's forehead tighten, and then relax as he realized that Rachel was going to be fine. But the man on the porch was still a stranger. An unknown entity. And while he might have trusted his imprint's instincts to speak to him, he didn't have to like it too much. So he let her walk forward, he let her step onto the porch. But he was exactly one step behind her the entire time. I could almost see Rachel's eyes roll at his possessive streak.

"Michael?" she reapeated. "Is that really you?"

Finally the man standing in the shadows stepped forward, just as the lights came on. Billy must have turned them on from inside. "Its me Rach. I was there... in Seattle... this morning... I .. I followed you back here. I didn't want to talk to you guys there... I was worried maybe I would draw attention... I had to come... I had to see for myself that K was ok. That she was safe..." he trailed off as Rachel didn't seem to register what he was saying.  
>He was frowning, trying to make her understand his disjointed explanation. Just then Collin shifted his weight from one foot to the other and that movement caught his attention. His eyes immediately zeroed in on the girl in my arms. His eyes widened slightly at the protective stance I held her in; the defensive position that Collin and Brady had taken up. But all this was my brain noticing and cataloguing automatically.<br>I was still too focused on the reactions of my imprint.

When she had first realized that it wasn't her brother standing on the porch she had lost a little of the stiff stance she had adopted, but she was still not breathing. Not much anyway, just barely there, shallow breaths that were probably just about keeping her from passing out. Before I could even ask her what was going on, she moved.  
>It took everything in me not to grab her and hold on for dear life. My brain was screaming at me to stop her. I didn't know who this 'Michael' was. I didn't know why he was here. I didn't know what he wanted. The one thing I DID know was I didn't want my imprint anywhere near him. But then again, when did any of our imprints just lie down and take orders from us.<br>Stubborn women seemed to be the norm for this wolfpack.  
>The spirits had a mean sense of humor.<p>

Dragging my runaway brain back to the present, Kaia had already taken 2 steps forward. It was all I could do to stop myself following on her heels the way Paul had with Rachel. I knew she wouldn't stand for it. But she looked so heart-breakingly fragile right then, that I was scared she might just collapse. And then something about her changed.  
>She stopped at the foot of the porch stairs. Her spine straightened, and her breathing pattern changed. She seemed to take deeper breaths, almost… almost like the kind some of us took when our tempers were getting the better of us. She was angry? And then I noticed she was glaring at the man 4 feet away from her, her hands clenched into fists at her sides.<br>Wow.  
>I had never seen her this mad. Except for Collin and Brady's memories of the infamous Diner episode.<p>

A couple more deep breaths and no-one had moved, watching this play out like some kind of horror movie. I was willing to bet our expressions were the same as well. Everything from downright worry to barely held back annoyance at this intruder. And that's when it happened. "Kai…" he said, in a voice barely more than a whisper, staring at her face. She snapped.  
>Fury filled me, and since I wasn't particularly angry with anything at the moment, I knew it was an overflow of her emotions that I was feeling. Faster than any one of us could move to stop her, she was up the stairs, and the couple of feet to him and a resounding 'Thwack' rung out into the darkening night.<p>

Standing and staring seemed to be the consensus everytime Kaia took it into her hands to do something. Even though I would have taken her side, I had no idea what this guy had done for her to hit him, in the face at that. I could still feel the rage that had overtaken her, along with what I thought might be hurt, but she didn't show any of it on her face. Her expression was still cold, almost unconcerned.  
>"What the HELL are you doing here Michael?" she hissed. "Did it take my brother dying for you to remember who I am? And why the hell was it so important for you to know I'm ok now? Huh? Where were you all this time?"<p>

All the while she shouted at him, I saw the pain that filled his eyes. Rachel had tears streaming down her face now, as she watched them face off. Finally Kaia came to the end of her tirade, and I finally saw tears start to form, "Where were you when I tried to contact you Mike? Where were you when I thought you were dead too… just like Jason?" and then she seemed to crumple.  
>I started forward to catch her, but the subject of her rant stepped forward and grabbed her in a bear hug, as she began sobbing in earnest. "I'm sorry baby girl… I'm so sorry. God knows the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you. I'm so sorry," he murmured against her hair.<p>

I had had enough of some stranger holding her by then, so I took her by the arms and helped her up from the half-kneeling position they were in on the porch. She turned her face into my chest and wrapped her arms around me. While a part of me was hurting because she was in pain, a small part of me rejoiced that she already trusted me enough to find comfort in me so readily. I held her close and rubbed a hand up and down her back to soothe the shaking.

Rachel's voice interrupted his staring at Kaia in my arms. "Michael, I think we deserve an explanation… all of us. But can we do this inside please?" she directed that last part at Paul, who simply nodded and held the door open for her. Without looking at each other, we all followed one by one, except for me and the girl I was holding.  
>Looking down at her, now that the tears had stopped, I asked, "Kai… do you want to go inside?"<br>She was silent for a few seconds and just when I thought she may not have heard me, she answered. "Will you stay with me? Please?"  
>Heart swelling, I just nodded my head and replied, "As long as you need me."<br>With that, she dropped a quick kiss on my lips and then turned to follow everyone else into the house. Serious as the moment was, I couldn't stop the smile from covering my face, at least for a few seconds, when I noticed that she was still holding my hand.

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><p>End Seth POV<p>

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><p>They all sat around Billy's tiny living room; Billy himself had taken one look at the looks on Paul's and Jacob's faces and mumbled that he was going to bed. Awkward tension seemed to permeate everything there, until Rachel finally huffed and decided to make some coffee. The speed with which the rest of the packs decided that they needed caffeine as well was practically Mach 5.<br>Rachel set the coffeemaker going and stayed in the tiny kitchen. Barely 30 seconds later, Paul got up and joined her there. From his vantage point Jake could see Rachel leaning against the counter, until Paul stood just behind her, drawing her back against his chest and holding her there.  
>Satisfied that his sister was in good hands, Jake transferred his attention to the girl he, and the rest of the pack for that matter, thought of as an honorary member. Whoever this Michael was, if he said or did anything to upset this girl, Jake himself would have to take a number behind Embry, Collin and Brady. If Seth left anything of him for the others to have a go at.<br>Somehow Jake doubted that. Mild-mannered and easy-going Seth might be, but if it came to his imprint, he could be worse than Paul, and if there was anything he had learned from Leah, it was how to fight.

The awkwardness hadn't dissipated from the time Rachel had left, and when she walked back into the room with an assortment of mugs with coffee in them, she rolled her eyes at the scene. Michael was in a chair in the corner, staring at Kaia, who was wrapped in Seth's arms. She seemed to be looking anywhere but at him, and Seth kept murmuring to her in comfort.  
>Embry, Collin and Brady glared at Michael, although they didn't really have an explanation as to they they were doing so. His presence had made Kaia angry, and so they felt like they should be angry as well. 'Juveniles… Like toddlers,' Rachel though to herself. Jake looked around and once Rachel had sat down, Paul on the floor next to her, he cleared his throat to break the utter silence. "Maybe its time we had some explanations?" he said, in a low voice.<p>

Rachel nodded at him and then looked straight at Michael. "Yeah, explanations would be nice Kid. I deserve one, and you know as well as I do that Kaia does too." Michael's head jerked up at the nickname Rachel had used, and the pack noted this. Meanwhile, Jake looked from his sister to the stranger in the corner and exclaimed, "Wait a second… This is THAT Michael? The one you told me and Paul about… that day on the beach?"  
>Surprised that he had remembered, Rachel nodded and then turned her attention back to the subject of the conversation. He finally looked away from Kaia curled up next to Seth, and took a deep breath. "Finding a starting point is tough…"<br>"Try harder," Paul sniped from his seat on the floor.  
>The look Michael sent him was pure venom.<p>

But then he shook his head and seemed to focus on something the others couldn't see. "From your earlier remark, I'm going to assume that you know about what we were involved with in the last year," he began.  
>When Jake nodded, he took it as a sign to continue. "You know the night Jason disappeared… they were suspicious then. They wanted to send us a warning. Jason became the warning. You can thank that cold you caught that it wasn't you."<br>Ignoring both Rachel and Kaia's wincing, he continued, "So once you moved back here, I couldn't go back to my apartment, it had been… _compromised_…" everone in the room noticed the way his lip curled over that word. "Mike said that they had tracked me from my records. They found my place… trashed it too. It wasn't safe anymore. So they stuck me in a safehouse. When I asked about you, they told me that they had contacted the police force here and they said you had adequate protection."  
>The wolves in the room looked at each other and couldn't help but smirk. Rachel was MORE than adequately protected on their lands. "I had no outside contact, no way to get messages to anyone… and no way out. Basically a very pleasant jail sentence."<br>His jaw twitched, fists clenched on his knees. "The second they let me out, I tore up there, but they were burying him. I got to my best friend's funeral… and not even in time to say goodbye." He stood then, and looked down at Kaia, still wrapped in Seth's arms.  
>"The only thing I could think of after that was making sure you were ok… If you had been hurt too.. if they had found a way to get to you… then I would have had a little more blood on my hands…"<p>

Rachel's head snapped up at that last statement, "More? What the hell does that mean?"  
>He levelled an icy gaze at her, blue eyes as cold as the arctic. "Remember I said they compromised my apartment? I was still in it. I might have been responsible for some broken bones…" only the pack heard him mutter, "or a broken neck" under his breath.<br>"That was why they couldn't let me out. Mike managed to get it fixed so that it went down as self-defence. Being outnumbered counted in my favor for once. I just needed to know that you were alright."

Kaia looked up then, "How long are you staying?" she asked, watching him carefully. "As long as I need to," he replied looking straight in her eyes. "You are pretty much the only family I have left Kai. I'm sticking around… at least as long as you want me around." She watched him for a few seconds longer, then stood and walked into his outstretched arms.  
>"I thought you were dead too… when they found Jason… and we hadn't heard from you in so long… Michelle refused to believe it though.. she said you would be fine… that there was probably a good reason you couldn't contact us." Ryan's head had jerked up at the mention of his imprint.<br>Hugging Kaia, Michael spoke into her hair, "I missed you Munchkin… I was terrified that something would happen to you, that someone would hurt you… "

Embry interrupted with a derisive snort, "You really think we would have let anything happen to her?" he asked. Michael looked at him with a slight smile on his face. "Well if I had known that Kaia had moved in with Bigfoot's spawn, I wouldn't have worried so much"  
>A heartbeat of silence followed, where Kaia wondered what their reaction would be. And then there was a general outburst, as they all started to laugh. Sighing in relief, Kaia held out her hand for Seth and turned to Michael. "Mikey, I want you to meet Seth, my boyfriend. Seth, meet Michael. Jason's best friend and my honorary older brother."<p>

Grinning at the title, Seth reached out his hand to the newcomer in front of him and said, "Seth Clearwater, welcome to La Push." Gripping his hand, Michael replied, "Michael… Hunter," although nobody except Kaia noticed the momentary hesitation before he gave his surname. She raised her eyebrow at him and he shook his head minutely. She would wait until later to ask him why he hadn't given his full name. Jake interrupted then, introducing everyone else as Rachel sat back, waiting for the pleasantries to get done. "Where are you staying Kid? In Forks?" she asked.

"Yeah" he replied sheepishly. "I saw a sign for a motel when I drove through, so I'm hoping they have a room." He missed the look Jake sent Embry and Embry's nod of approval. Clearing his throat, Jake spoke up, "Actually, you can crash with us if you like… we have a place down the road… and there is also a fold-out couch that is pretty comfortable."  
>Michael looked up in surprise, "Umm that would be great actually. That way I can drop in and see you tomorrow right?" he directed this last question at Kaia.<br>She smiled and nodded, and Jake directed him to follow them out, since it had been a long day, and everyone needed some shut-eye.

After hugging Kaia and then Rachel, Michael turned to the door, only to come face to face with Sam & Leah, who had decided to come find out what exactly was holding up Jake. They hadn't heard anything from him since he had phased back, the last thing they caught was him picking up a strange scent. Leah froze as soon as she Michael, with a funny look on her face. He in turn just stared past Sam right into her eyes and seemed to turn into a human statue.

Seth and Jake both looked at each other and then at Sam in bewilderment, only Rachel catching on. "Oh Holy Hell…" she hissed. "Leah imprinted on him."  
>But then things got more confusing, when Leah didn't move, but Michael dropped the jacket he had picked up, stepped towards her, and then whispered, "Its you!"<p>

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><p><strong>AN: ** The next chapter will NOT be so long in coming. I promise!

Review!

Loves


	18. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

**A/N:** Please feel free to berate, ridicule, curse me and send me hate-mail. After such a long delay between updates, I have earned your ire.  
>All I can do is offer up this next chapter and beg for reviews.<p>

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><p>"<em>Oh Holy Hell…" she hissed. "Leah imprinted on him."<em>

_Michael stepped towards her, and then whispered, "Its you!"_

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><p>The tension in the room was almost palpable. It finally broke at Seth's muttered comment, "It's like the freaking twilight zone around here."<p>

For some reason the incredulity in his tone seemed to send every there into peals of laughter. Rachel was sure that there was a tinge of hysteria to it, but she welcomed any distraction from what she could see happening in front of her.  
>She was sure Leah had imprinted on Michael, and she was still reeling that it had happened right in front of her. But looking at the way Leah was gazing at him, she could recognize the expression in her eyes. Intense emotion, but it was tinged with something else. Something Rachel couldn't fully put her finger on at the moment. Realizing that everyone had seemed to settle back into wherever they were sitting, she sighed, knowing that no-one was going to be decamping to their own residences any time soon.<br>She stood to get some more coffee for the newcomers, when she was surprised by Leah getting up to join her. Once they were in the relative seclusion of the kitchen, Rachel turned to face her friend only to stop short at the desperation in her eyes. "Leah?" She started to ask what was wrong but she was interrupted again by an additional presence in the tiny kitchen.

"I need to talk to you… Now" was Michael's abrupt interruption.  
>That was when Rachel recognized the the other unidentified emotion in Leah's eyes.<br>Uncertainty.  
>It explained why it took so long for her to figure it out; Leah had never looked uncertain about anything in her life. "Umm… Ok?" Leah seemed to ask more than agree. "Maybe you guys could talk out back, coz if you go through the living room, you can bet most of them are going to follow you." Rachel offered. Nodding silently, Leah led Michael out the back door and a little away from the house, just far enough so that the other wolves wouldn't hear their conversation, but close enough to keep in sight of the house.<br>Leah knew her pack, they would go ballistic if she disappeared with someone they didn't know and hadn't vetted themselves.

But Leah was confused. She knew what imprinting felt like, having seen it so many times through the other's eyes. She started to wince at the thought of Sam and Emily and realized with a jolt of shock that it didn't hurt anymore. But she didn't feel that sappy overload of adoration either, even though she had assumed she would. She felt a strong… attachment was the only word for it.  
>Her world didn't revolve around this handsome stranger studying her face, but he was a major part of it. His presence didn't blind her to everything else, but it seemed instead, to put things in perspective.<br>Not so much the sun as the sky.

Shaking herself from the ramblings of her mind, she tried to pay more attention to owner of those intense blue eyes locked on hers. "Leah, right?" he inquired. She was puzzled. Who had mentioned her name? "Yeah… and you're Michael, aren't you? Rach's friend from college…" she asked in turn. He nodded stiffly and then opened his mouth to ask something, before closing it just as quickly. Sighing to herself, she closed her eyes and took the plunge. "Michael… How much do you know of our tribal history?"  
>"Umm... I nearly insulted Rachel pretty badly once, by accident… after that Jason made me go buy a book on your tribal customs and history and stuff… I remember reading quite a bit. Why?"<p>

"There's quite a bit of stuff about us that you need to know first, but there are one or two things that I think I should explain…about us, as a people. And some of our legends are going to freak you out…" she mumbled the last part to herself.

Looking up, she was surprised she had to look up actually, after her wolf initiation, she found that there weren't too many men taller than her. His blue eyes seemed very confused and yet very determined as he finally asked the question she knew he had wanted to ask from the beginning. He was going to ask if she was mentally instable and needed help back to her asylum.

Her jaw dropped at his next words.

"Did you imprint on me?"

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><p>Back in the house, Rachel had expressly forbidden the others from following Leah and Michael and just said that they needed to talk. Luckily, she didn't need to fabricate an excuse for this strange behavior for Kaia; that problem had been solved when she had very conveniently passed out on Seth after Michael had followed Leah into the kitchen.<br>Knowing the girl was exhausted after the emotional day, Seth had laid her in bed, following what was fast becoming a pattern with her. He smiled to himself as he slipped her shoes off and covered her with a blanket. He loved that she was comfortable enough with him to fall asleep and trust him to take care of her. As cheesy as it sounded, Seth loved the feeling he got when he held her sleeping form in his arms, knowing he could protect her, knowing he would always protect her.

Rejoining the others in the living room, he took note of all the sulking faces and had to strain to keep himself from laughing. He knew his brothers didn't like the idea of Leah out there with someone they didn't know. And despite knowing she could personally rip apart anything as remotely dangerous as a vampire; it didn't stop their macho tendencies from surfacing.

A few minutes later, Leah walked back in the house, Michael following her, looking shell-shocked, with a distinct aura of confusion around him. The wolves in the living room looked at him with closed expressions on his face, none of them missing Leah's downcast eyes. "Leave him alone boys… he's had a lot to digest" she said in a low voice.  
>Embry's eyes narrowed and Seth's mouth became a grim line.<br>Jake simply nodded and spoke up, "Whatever you say Leah," reminding the others that this was her call. Standing, he gestured to the doorway, and looked at Michael questioningly. He still wasn't sure if the new arrival wanted to come with them or not, since he had no idea what Leah had told him.  
>Michael, for his part, nodded immediately and started to follow Jake out, when he suddenly remembered something and turned to Leah. "You're gonna be around tomorrow right? If I need to talk to you? I promised Kai an explanation, but could I see you afterwards?"<p>

With a small smile, Leah nodded and said, "Sure… Give me a call when you're done talking with Kaia, although from what I know of her, that might take a while."

He grinned briefly, and then as if he had suddenly made up his mind, gave her a quick hug and then dashed out the door after Jake and Embry. Rachel just stared at her best friend and was left wanting more when she just shook her head and mouthed 'later.'  
>Knowing that the night was finally at an end, the others filed out, intending to go to their respective homes, or, in Seth's case, camping out below Rachel's window tonight.<br>Paul interrupted his departure however, by throwing a blanket at him and telling him to take the couch. If Kaia woke up in the night and needed comfort, Seth would be more use than anyone else could possibly hope to be. Rachel watched this proceeding and just nodded.  
>She and Emily had long since come to the conclusion that the wolves were not the only ones who felt the pull of the imprint. She knew that if Kaia couldn't sleep in the middle of the night, no one would make her feel better the way Seth could.<p>

Satisfied that his Alpha's sister was ok with this arrangement, Seth settled in on the couch and dozed off not long after. In his opinion, Rachel was by far the scarier Black, and he had no shame in his fear for her. Hell, even Jake and Billy were wary around her when she decided something was not right. After being asleep for what felt like minutes, Seth was aware of a presence in the room.  
>Coming awake and alert immediately was something they had all gotten used to, and fast, during their preparations for the showdown with the Volturi that spring. His eyes, already adjusted to the darkness, spied a small figure standing in the doorway, the hall-light behind them silhouetting them clearly. He said nothing, just raised one side of the blanket in silent question.<p>

Kaia slipped into the room and under the blanket, turning to him and burying her face in his chest. He felt her silent sobs and knew that there was nothing he could say to make her feel better. It had been an emotional roller-coaster for her the past few days. Learning of her brother's death, attending the funeral while they buried the last of her family, dealing with relatives that she obviously couldn't stand, the however short moment that she had thought her brother might have been alive, the reunion with someone else she had assumed lost forever. His mind staggered under the onslaught of everything she had been dealing with. Holding her to him, he wished there was some way for him to alleviate her pain. But he understood that she took comfort in his presence; he drew comfort from that.

But come morning, he knew things might change.  
>It was time she had an explanation.<p>

Would she still let him hold her like this after she knew what he was?

Would she forgive him for not telling her earlier?

Sighing to himself, he hugged her dozing form tighter and begged whichever spirits were listening, to give him strength.  
>This was not going to be easy.<p>

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><p>AN: So Michael knows, but I didn't want to put his explanation and reception in here, it would get too tedious, so that will be going in my out-takes – Howling By Moonlight.

I just want to take this chance to apologize and tell you guys that I am so so sorry I took so long to update. I can blame nothing and no-one but myself. Work and other things got me so distracted that I just lost track… So so so sorry.

Hope you liked this chapter, I can see this story coming to an end shortly, but the next bit should be up and running soon enough. I havn't got enough of this universe yet.  
>So expect more of Kaia and co. I plan on doing a short segue with Ryan and Michelle next, but I'm taking requests for who you want to see immediately after that. Embry, Collin or Brady? Answer the poll on my home-page and check out the character pics that are up as well.<p>

Loves as always.


	19. Revelations

**A/N:** Hi Guys, I had someone hack into my laptop and a lot of my scribbling disappeared, but the advantage is I had it all written down in my trusty little notebook. The delay was in getting it all typed up alllll over again.  
>Hopefully you guys like this.<p>

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><p>Yawning, Seth slowly rejoined the world of the living. His head still felt groggy and he wasn't sure why he was already awake. Somewhere in the back of his foggy brain, he knew it was a school day… Tuesday maybe? He wasn't sure.<p>

He knew he should be getting dressed and moving for school, but he also knew that there was no way Kaia would want to go to school yet anyway. Resolving to stay with her today, regardless of detention he might get, he slowly opened his eyes, trying not to jostle the sleeping girl in his arms.

Except, she wasn't sleeping anymore.

Bright green eyes stared at him with careful concentration. "Kai?" he questioned, wondering what she was doing already awake.  
>"Seth, we need to talk."<br>After all the dating nightmares he had heard about, those words were ones he had come to fear. Especially when spoken by a girl.

And the fact that it was THIS girl saying that to him, was enough to give him apoplexy.

"Umm, sure Kai, what's up?"

"Give me a few minutes, I need to clean myself up a bit... Can we go to the beach after that?"

Again, all Seth could do was mumble "Sure" and then listen to his heart stutter when she climbed off the sofa and walked into the tiny hallway that he knew led to the bathroom.  
>As she disappeared, he felt like his lungs were in a vice. Breathing was getting harder and harder, and it didn't improve when Paul stuck his head out of Rachel's room to whisper, "That doesn't sound good bro... you ok?"<p>

Replying seemed like a waste of very precious air to Seth, a commodity he was fast running out of.

Why had she said that? Using that tone of voice no less, like she had come to a decision and all that was left to do was let him into it.

He had developed a feeling over the past few days that she suspected something. How much of his secret had she divined?  
>Had she realized what he was?<p>

He knew she was smart, she had probably figured out long ago that all the pack shared similar physical traits. The builds, the temperatures they ran at, the way all their reflexes seemed to be that much faster than the other normal humans.  
>Rachel had told her that this was because they all shared the same genetic condition.<br>At least that part was true.

They DID all share the same genetic issues.

If it weren't for who their forefathers were, none of them would be able to turn into the giant defenders most of the tribe didn't know they had.

He had been planning on telling her everything about the pack just the other day, but that was when Rachel had received the phone call that took away the last remaining member of Kaia's family. Her blood family at least.

He was almost resentful of the way Collin and Brady acted around her.

It took constant reminders for him to tell himself that they were thrilled to have another trouble-maker around. Sam was always on their cases if they got in trouble at school. Although they both had motorcycles, they had worked through 3 straight summers to be able to afford them. Their parents had refused outright to buy them.  
>Ryan and Seth tended to be a little more sidelined at school, actually bothering to finish their home-work now and then, while the Jamesons had been sent to the principal's office on so many occasions they had their own assigned seating in the waiting room outside his office.<p>

Since Kaia had joined them, they managed to cause the same amount of trouble while getting away with it a lot more, since she was usually their spokesperson and managed to get all sniffly just in time for the principal to forget to call their parents.

Rachel had practically adopted her and Embry would hamstring anyone he considered a threat. She had become such an integral part of all their lives. What would he do if she decided she couldn't deal with this? Emily, Rachel & Kim had grown up around legends of their people, Claire was too young to care, Ness was a half-vampire and it wasn't like she didn't know how to deal with weird.

Kaia on the other hand, was completely new to all this.

The first time she had heard of any of this, was the other night at the bonfire.  
>And she had been strangely perceptive of him after that, observing him and the other guys in turn, including Leah in her scrutiny.<p>

Aware that he was almost hyper-ventilating, he tried to calm down before Kaia came back.

She had barely been gone for a few minutes, and he had already imagined a scenario where she was condemning him for what he was, what he could do.  
>What he had no choice in.<p>

Shaking himself, he looked up at the doorway as she walked back into the room. "Shall we?" she asked, looking strangely calm, but he could hear her heartbeat going a mile a minute. Following her out of the house, he paused as she stalled in the doorway, bracing for the chill of the wind outside. Without thinking, Seth stepped closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, finally noticing that she had tugged on one of his over-sized sweatshirts while she had been gone.  
>He had to stifle a small laugh at the fact that it dropped to her knees in a shapeless mass.<p>

Leaning a little into him, she sighed a little and started walking. He took a deep breath in relief; she wasn't running away from him.  
>Yet.<p>

Would she stick around once she knew what he really was?

Hopefully she would stay true to whatever he knew of her so far and accept it.  
>Once they reached the beach, she stopped walking and glanced around until she spotted a clump of rocks that looked like they were guaranteed to get uncomfortable very quickly.<p>

Sitting down on them, she looked straight at him with a piercing gaze that felt like it was searing right through to his soul.

After what seemed like an age, she finally spoke.

"There is something different about you Seth Clearwater... And it started coming to me that night at the bonfire, where Mr. Black told us those old tribal legends... I started thinking about it then, but I got side-tracked the next day..."  
>He nodded to show he was following her, but the truth was, he couldn't maintain the eye contact anymore.<br>He was terrified now, and looking her in the eye while she was telling him these realizations was costing him. His fear was becoming overwhelming and seeing contempt or even terror in those green orbs that hypnotized him, would have killed him.  
>So Seth stared at the sand at his feet and waited for her to tell him to leave... or to tell him that she was the one leaving.<p>

Meanwhile, Kaia was still talking. He forced himself to listen. "Even after Jason's funeral... I went to the tree house because it was where we spent the most time... He was the one who convinced my dad to build it, and he was the one who always found me up there when I was hiding or upset about something... I loved it up there because it was so hidden. Someone spotting it without knowing exactly where it was is next to impossible. So how did you manage it? You always hear things so clearly even when someone is whispering across a room Seth, how is that humanly possible?"

His head jerked at the reference to the fact that being human might not fully apply to him.

"Seth?" she called gently. "You asked me to be your girlfriend... I said I would love to... but these things don't work like this. I need to know the truth. Something is different about you. Not quite normal... and don't think I havn't noticed the others either, but the one that matters the most to me is you. Is there something you need to tell me?"

Finally looking up, he met her gaze with a hopeless expression on his face and then muttered miserably. "It might be easier to just show you... even if you do go running for the hills after that."

He took a deep breath, "Kai, how much of the legends do you remember, from the night Billy told them to us?"

"Quite a bit" came the immediate reply. "I kind of missed out on the part where he explained why the protectors existed.. something about the cold?"  
>Nodding, Seth looked her in the eyes and then asked, "What if I told you that the legends weren't just legends? That they were recorded parts of our history? If I told you that the protectors were real... that they are still real?"<p>

She gazed at him steadily.

His voice dropped, became more intense.

"What if I told you that the threats that came after our people then were real, horrifying things that haunt nightmares, and that the reason we exist are just as real?"

"Kai, if I told you that I was one of those protectors, if I told you that who my grandfather was, has changed my life forever... would you believe me?"  
>His voice became a whisper at his next question, "Would you stay?"<p>

Following the same figure of speech he used, she looked him in the eyes and then said, in a steady voice, "If you said those things to me Seth, then I would want to know more... I'm not a runner, never have been. But I don't like being lied to... and I don't like being kept in the dark. I want the truth... and I want all of it. No more side-stepping. Either you tell me everything or..." she trailed off, and then looked from him, into the distance, "There is no either, or here. You tell me everything. I deserve that much."

Raising his hand to her face, Seth gently pulled her chin until she was looking directly at him again. "No eithers, No ors. I promise. The whole truth. But not down here... The cliffs. Where we went diving remember?"

She nodded and stood, reaching for his hand. Grateful from the bottom of his heart that she was still giving him a chance, even after realizing what he was, he took it, and then turned it, kissing her palm.

"I'll meet you up there. Take Jake's truck, its got a four-wheel drive. There's something I have to do first."

She looked at him quizzically and then nodded.

He stood there watching her walk away and then slowly walked toward the tree-line. Once he was far enough back in the trees, he stripped and phased, and reached out with his mind to see if any of his brothers were around. Only one consciousness was around. He didn't automatically hear the thoughts, so it couldn't be someone from his own pack.  
>"Hey" he called mentally.<br>"Seth, what's up man?" Ryan was just coming back into range from his late-night run to Seattle, and he quickly figured out what was going on with Seth. As was Ryan's way, he inquired if his brother needed help, and then phased back as soon as he reached his own home, after Seth declined.  
>Just about to phase back, Seth sensed another mind in the pack-link. It was Jake. He quickly filled in his alpha about the impending reveal to another imprint and Jake told him he would be around in case Seth needed him to be there.<p>

Realizing that Kaia would be almost to the cliff-top by now, Seth raced there on 4 legs, and quickly changed back into his clothes, waiting for his imprint to pull up.  
>His heart thumping so loudly he was sure she would hear it, he watched as she put the truck in park and jumped out. She was frowning and he knew she was wondering how he had gotten up to the cliffs that fast.<p>

This was it.

His own personal moment of truth.

He beckoned to her and was slightly relieved when she took his hand without hesitation. Sitting down against a tree, he pulled her into him sideways, so she was sitting in his lap and still able to see his face. Then he proceeded to tell her the legend again. And her eyes widened as he spoke, putting into context everything she was hearing and applying it consciously to everything she had already deduced about them.  
>Once he had finished, she closed her eyes for a second, only to open them to meet his worried expression.<p>

Finally she spoke, "I just have one question..."

"Sure," Seth mumbled, practically choking on his own voice.

"Why do you look like you are going to meet your doom?" she deadpanned.

Seth couldn't help but chuckle, and confessed, "The others... they've grown up with this you know... they have heard these legends at least a million times, so when Sam and Jared told Emily and Kim... and Paul told Rachel... well at least they had something to base their heads in... You got thrown into this with no warning whatsoever... and I was scared... terrified actually, that you would go running for the hills as soon as I told you this was all real..."

She nodded, still grim-faced.

"I want to see it Seth," she said firmly. "I believe you, but I want to see what this is all about." Knowing that this would have come from her sooner or later, Seth nodded in acceptance and helped her stand. Turning her to face the woods, he told her to watch a particular clump of bushes, and then started taking his shirt off.  
>"As much as I appreciate the impromptu strip-tease, what are you doing?" she asked in a puzzled voice.<p>

Recalling Jake's reaction to Bella's almost identical question, Seth grinned and said, "My clothes don't exactly phase in and out of existence when I change you know..."

"Is that what you call it? Phasing?" she enquired.

Wordlessly nodding, he shucked the rest of his clothes and walked to the bushes in just his shorts.

Without turning back to her, he stopped and called out, "Whatever you do, don't be afraid. I'd die before I hurt you."

and then he walked behind the bushes, stripped and walked out from behind the covers, in the form of the large sandy wolf.

Her eyes locked on his and she smiled just a bit.  
>Creeping along the ground until he was on his belly in front of her, Seth was petrified beyond words that she would come to her senses and run. Instead, she stared at him and then took a deep breath before plopping herself down on the ground, leaning against the same tree as he had before.<p>

"Whoooo... can't blame me for being a little light headed now can you," she muttered to him, watching his eyes as she spoke. "Your eyes though.. they don't change at all. Yours are still the same warm black they always are... although if you look close enough, you can see these little brown specks... but only when you smile... wow, am I rambling..."

Seth stayed crouched in front of her, slowly raising his nose to her outstretched hand.

As she ran her small fingers through his fur, he let a contented growl rumble through his chest, smiling to himself in relief when she didn't jerk away, but laughed instead.

"Ok Wolf boy... now go change back. I want my boyfriend back."

Chuckling at the idea of someone her size giving him an order while he was roughly as big as a horse, he went back behind the bushes, and came back wearing his shorts. Kaia stayed sitting on the ground while he pulled on his jeans and his sweatshirt. He kept his eyes locked on her the whole time, until she finally mentioned his scrutiny, "Why are you staring at me like that Clearwater?"

He shook his head with a small smile and answered, "I keep waiting to wake up... Or for you to suddenly realize that this is all real and you don't want anything to do with me.. or for you to be afraid of me..."

She cut off his monologue by placing her fingers over his lips and shushing him.

"I'm still here you know... I have like a million questions right now... but I am still here. I am not going to run Seth.. not from this, and definitely not from you"

His heart melting at the truth he could see in her clear guileless eyes, Seth could say nothing. He pulled her into his arms and wrapped himself around her; breathing in the scent of her hair, he mumbled the words he hadn't been able to say yet.

"I love you Kai..."

She froze, but he didn't let go of her. "You don't have to say anything yet... I know that you're not ready, and that is not how you feel yet... but I just wanted you to know how I feel... No pressure on you... not for anything. I just need you to know."

Snuggled under his chin, he felt her head nod.

"I think we should be getting back to Rachel's soon. I don't want them to wake up and think I kidnapped you, Paul would KILL me... if Embry left anything of me to kill that is..."

"Yeah, you forgot that we would be first in line there bro..." came a deep voice from the side of the cliff.  
>Whirling around, Seth immediately placed himself between Kaia and the source of the voice. Only after he did this, did his brain kick into action to identify the voice.<p>

"Nice to see your instincts put her first man, even from horrible threats like us" came an amused voice that matched the first.

"Another day guys," pleaded Seth, not willing to deal with the clowning the twins would come up with if allowed to.

Meanwhile, Kaia was still silent, and just stood there, studying Collin and Brady until they were both very uncomfortable. "Umm.. Kai, why are you staring at us like that," Collin finally asked.  
>Without taking her eyes off the two boys in front of her, Kaia directed her question to Seth, "I just thought of something, if all of you were in on this secret, how come you didn't tell me... and how come you can tell me now?"<p>

Seth froze.

In his relief at her knowing his secret, he had forgotten that he still hadn't let her in on the biggest secret.

His imprinting.

Swallowing hard, he turned to the twins, looking for some kind of help.  
>They both just stared blankly back at him, knowing this was his call.<p>

Looking her directly in the eyes, he finally spoke, "There are a few other things you need to know, but I can't tell you all of it yet. There's another bonfire on Friday, and Billy is planning to tell the legends again. It might make more sense to you if you hear about it then."

Still looking suspicious, Kaia only nodded and then with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, she asked, "SO... you guys have all seen each other naked?"

Giggling amidst the groaning that particular comment caused, she walked to the car and climbed in, slightly surprised that Seth joined her. When she looked at him askance, he only shrugged and gave her a crooked half-smile. "It beats running back with those two poking around in my head. Mind-reading can be inconvenient now and then..."

"They what?" she yelped. Laughing outright, he explained how the pack could read minds in wolf form, by which time she had reached Rachel's house again. Hopping out of the cab of the truck, she stalked up to Collin who was lounging against the porch railing, and poked him in the chest with her index finger. "You... and your wolfy twin... stay out of my boyfriend's head ok..." she emphasized each word with a finger poke.

Exaggeratedly rubbing his chest Collin faked injury and collapsed right on top of the tiny brunette assaulting his person. Seth rolled his eyes at her high-pitched squealing, and her pleas to save her.

Brady walked out of the kitchen only to watch in disbelieving amusement as she got up from the ground, thumbed her nose at Collin who was now lying there laughing, and told him in a very condescending tone to, "Sit boy... staaaaay" before racing to Seth and hiding behind him.

"So... you know our secret... does that change anything?" came a serious, deep voice from the tree line beside the Black residence.  
>The two clowns in the comedy production dropped the act and all 4 turned to see Embry leaning up against a tree, wearing nothing but cut-offs, and watching Kaia very carefully, a blank expression on his face.<p>

She stilled, then looking determined, she walked up to him and hugged him fiercely, muttering, "NOTHING has changed" under her breath, knowing by now that he would hear her.  
>Hugging her back, Embry felt a rush of emotion for the youngster who had such a hold on his heart.<p>

They spent the rest of the day explaining to her other details about the pack, all of them carefully skirting the topic of imprinting, knowing Seth was going to have his work cut out for him when he eventually gave her the whole story.

Seeing her begin to recover from her depression, Rachel knew she was starting to accept her brother's untimely death; that wound would take a long time to heal, but being around other people, especially the pack, would make it heal just a little bit more.  
>Smiling inwardly, Rachel realized something.<p>

Emily was like the pack mother, they turned to her for advice on something. Kaia was like their touchstone, where they all found some kind of attachment to her, stronger than the kind they felt for their brothers' imprints, but not something they could explain.  
>She helped them keep their heads above water. Rachel could only hope that she took the news of the imprint as well as she was taking the news that they all turned into giant creatures that fought evil.<br>Judging by the white-faced, open jawed expression she was wearing, followed by her flying at Seth and pummeling him while the others guffawed, Rachel guessed that they were telling her about the time he took on a vampire all by himself.

The rest of the week passed in the same fashion and finally Friday came. Seth was a bundle of nerves by the time they got to the bonfire, and could barely stop himself from holding on to Kaia and begging her not to leave him and the rest of the pack.  
>The bonfire passed much the same as before, the arguments over who got the most food, the dozing off before the legends could begin, everything was just as it had been at every other bonfire before. Except for the extremely shaky wolf who sat next to Kaia and could barely eat his usual meal, because he was that worried about her reaction.<p>

Finally Billy reached the story of the Third Wife and Taha Aki, and he told of how it was HER that had been his true spirit wife, his true soul-mate. His other half. All the time that Billy was talking, Kaia clutched Seth's hand, knowing that Billy's tales were what had him so shaken.  
>Slowly, Billy moved from the stories of years passed and began to talk of how the wolves in later generations all found their own spirit wives and how they called them imprints now. Kaia fidgeted as he indicated Emily, Rachel and Kim, nodding at Quil and Jacob, both of whose imprints were absent.<br>Seth knew the minute she made the connection between what he was saying and what had happened.  
>She turned slightly, not facing away from Billy fully, but making sure that she could see Seth as well, and then all of a sudden, she stiffened, her eyes going wide.<p>

Her hands in his became icy cold and he knew that she had realized the truth.

She was silent for the entire ride home and Seth had been on the receiving end of quite a few sympathetic glances from his brothers while they were getting into the truck.  
>Once they were parked outside the Black's house, Seth turned off the engine and they sat in silence for a while. Finally she spoke up. "You did, didn't you... Imprinted on me?"<p>

Heart sinking at the tone in her voice, Seth could only mumble his confirmation.

"So you asked me out only because of that? You fell in love with me only because you imprinted?" she cried, voice breaking, as the tears finally broke loose.

Desperately trying to make her understand the circumstances behind an imprinting, Seth finally understood the crippling fear that had been hampering him from the day he realized he had to tell her the truth.  
>He wasn't afraid of telling her. He was afraid that she would think he had been forced into this.<br>Knowing what he had to do now, he wrapped his arms around her so she couldn't storm away, like he knew she wanted to.  
>Then, in a low voice he finally spoke. "You remember how we met? You came outside the club, because you were hiding from Michelle? The first time I heard your voice, it was like listening to music I had never heard before, and yet... It was like I knew the tune playing. Imprinting is not some whole love at first sight deal. Its not compulsory. You could be imprinted on someone and never actually fall in love with them. But once you imprint on someone, its like you can't help but notice these things about them. Little stuff. Like how you cannot eat enchilada without tobasco... even though you get red as a lobster because of it. Or how you hunt through your food to get rid of every bit of celery before you even take your first bite."<br>She shifted in his arms and he loosened his grip enough for her to turn to face him.

"Imprinting is not falling in love immediately. Think of it as this big ass sign-board, like neon lights spelling out "Here she is, dumb-ass, now don't screw up." like the spirits way of telling us that the only we are going to get out of this whole being-wolves situation, is if we have the other half of our souls around... something like that. We don't have a choice, but you do..." looking directly into her green eyes, Seth felt his heart clench at his next words. "If what you really want to do right now is walk away, then you can. And I swear I will let you go. No questions asked."

She said nothing, only watching him carefully as he spoke.

The silence in the cab of the truck was turning stifling when she finally spoke up. "You realize that the reason I'm mad right now is because you didn't tell me about this earlier, when you told me about the packs? It's not the imprinting thats annoying me. Its you. You could have told me anytime this week, but you left me in the dark... and you know I hate that."  
>Seth could only nod, knowing that he had dug himself into this quickly deepening hole.<p>

"I need you to leave me alone for a bit Seth. I need to think. And I need to do this thinking away from you," she said with a marked air of finality.  
>Realizing that Kaia wasn't offering this information as a negotiable state of affairs, he nodded again and kissed her goodbye with a small peck on the cheek, waiting until she got inside the house before he drove away.<br>Knowing he would get no sleep at home, he phased in his driveway and headed back to the Black's. After a restless night under his imprint's window, he finally fell asleep at the crack of dawn.

He woke up suddenly and was confused for a second, wondering what had woken him so suddenly.  
>Then he heard an engine rev in the driveway.<p>

Ice fingers of dread crawled up his spine as he raced around the house to the front. Jason's.. no, it was Kaia's now, deep blue Camaro was in the driveway and the engine was running. She was in the driver's seat and that was where his thought process stalled. She was leaving.  
>As he stood behind the bushes, he saw her look around and he nudged a branch aside so she would know he was there.<br>Looking directly in his eyes, she mouthed something and even with his super-human hearing, he had to struggle to hear what she said. "I need to disappear for a while. Rachel knows where I am. I'll be back... don't know when, but I will. But please Seth... please don't call me"

And then she gunned the engine and careened out of the drive-way.

She was gone.  
>His imprint was gone.<p>

He couldn't follow her because his first instinct was to do what she wanted, and she obviously didn't want him to follow her right now.  
>So he would wait.<p>

But would she come back?

As the sun rose higher in the sky, he could only hope against all hope that she would.  
>What would he do if she didn't?<br>He wouldn't survive it, and when he felt the twins in his head, he knew that he wasn't the only one who would be hurting.

This was bad.

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><p><strong>AN: **Please review?

And please vote on the poll on my profile page. I can't start posting the next story until you do!

HATM will be coming to an end in 1 more chapter, 2 tops.  
>Ryan and Michelle's story will be posted immediately after that, but I don't foresee that taking more than 5 or 6 chapters.<p>

The story that comes after that depends on who you guys vote for.

Loves always

- N


	20. Homecoming

**A/N:** And this my darlings is the finale of Howling at the Moon.  
>Please make sure you read the AN at the end of this for information on the sequel.

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><p>She left on Saturday morning. It's Monday morning now. 48 hours had passed and I had no idea where my imprint was. She had told Rachel where she was going and Rachel assumed that she was safe. She knew where Kaia was, and she said that she would be safe. But how could I know that? She said Kaia would be fine, but I could feel that she wasn't. She was confused. She was hurting, and because of that, so was I.<p>

It was Monday, so my mother said I had to go back to school. She was sympathetic, but she said she didn't want me wallowing around the house. I couldn't help but wallow. The most important part of my life was missing and if I wanted to wallow, then I would wallow dammit.  
>To give them credit, Brady and Collin did whatever they could to keep my mind off the gaping void in my life. I knew they were worried about her disappearance as well, but she was my imprint and they understood how her absence would affect me. And like the brothers they were to me, they put me before their own feelings.<p>

By the time I got to school, I looked like I had been on a drinking binge the entire weekend. Even Lester had nothing to say to me. Just his usual customary glare. I couldn't bring myself to waste my energy on a glare in return. I felt blank. It was horrible really. This feeling of emptiness.  
>It sucked.<p>

I got to my first class of the day and the empty seat next to me seemed to mock me. Where could she be?

I had phased yesterday to try and see if I could pick up her scent, but Leah was still wolf at the time and she damn near tore my hind-leg off for even thinking of violating Kaia's request.

My head pounded like the worst kind of migraine.  
>Each throb sounded like her name.<p>

I couldn't blame Jake for ordering me not to phase for a couple of days, the few minutes I had been wolf yesterday was enough to convince the others that the kind of pain I was in was not something they wanted to deal with, even second-hand.

The tightness in my chest refused to let up and I knew it had to do with the fact that I was separated from my reason for living.

I knew that it would continue until she got back, which was why I was ecstatic when I suddenly felt it lighten up Monday night, but when I rushed over to Rachel's, Kaia wasn't there and all Rach could tell me, was that I would see her soon.

How soon was soon?

Tuesday morning, and the only thing keeping me from phasing and staying that way until Kaia got back, was Jake's order. He knew that if I went wolf I might just keep running to avoid the pain, and La Push was where I needed to be when Kaia returned.  
>A pessimistic side of my head added a cynical, "If she returns," and I was too tired to shut it up.<p>

Collin and Brady had caught a ride with me to school today; they took turns driving my truck so that I wouldn't end up wrapped around a tree, for all the attention I paid when I was driving.

We pulled into the parking lot and all 3 of us came to a screeching halt on our way out of the lot.

Midnight blue Camaro.  
>Parked.<br>Right in our lot.  
>I could smell the lingering scent of ocean and citrus that I knew was Kaia.<p>

She was back!

I raced to our first class. The twins were hot on my heels even though they weren't in this class with us.  
>But she wasn't there.<p>

In fact, she didn't show up in any of our classes, and Embry was able to bribe one of his current admirers to check if she was in the girls' bathroom.  
>She wasn't.<p>

I was officially confused. Her car was here, her scent so fresh that she must have gotten there less than ten minutes before us. We checked every place that we could think of. The library, which Collin was seeing for the first time. The bleachers where Embry had found her when she ran away. The auditorium. Everywhere we could think of, we looked, in between classes, until a horrible idea struck me.  
>We hadn't checked the office.<p>

I raced to the building, and her scent hit me full on. She was definitely inside.

I could hear Mrs. Marshall's hoarse voice, but the words she was saying that had me freezing.

"I don't think transferring in the middle of the term is a difficult thing to do at all Miss Reynolds... feel free to explore the other classes not on your schedule today, this slip should take care of your attendance. Make sure you meet me at the end of the day though, ok?"

I heard Kaia's mumbled assent and while my heart was singing at having her so close again, my brain told me that I would be in deep crap if she found out that I was eavesdropping.

I booked it out of the office only to run into Paul at the door. He looked at me with a stricken expression and I knew he had heard the same thing I had. Was she really leaving? She was transferring out?

We high-tailed it for the cafeteria and barely had time to tell the others what she had said when Embry, sitting next to me, stiffened and pointed at the doorway, Brady, Collin and Ryan turned to face the same direction as Paul and I were looking, only to see Kaia stalking through the door, a determined expression on her face.

I would never be able to clearly recall the number of things that ran through my head in the few seconds it took for her to reach me.

I was crazy with happiness to see her again, crushed by how tired and wan she looked; ecstatic that she had returned and terrified that she was leaving again; hopeful that she still cared about me, and scared that caring wasn't going to make her stay.

It was all there, all of it, and mixed in with the relief of having her around again, that had my inner wolf sighing with contenment.

Of course, all of this only lasted until I recognized the expression on her face; the last time she had looked this determined, she had socked Michael in the face 3 seconds later. I tensed, knowing that if she did hit me, it would hurt her a lot more than it would me.

By this time she had reached our table; she paused and took in the assorted expressions on all our faces and rolled her eyes before glaring at me and then demanding, "Stand Up. Now"

I did what any self-respecting independent man would do when his woman gave him an order.  
>I obeyed.<p>

I waited for a smack in the face - why did she have to be so violent anyway?  
>I waited for a verbal tirade - why did Leah have to put that word in my head, tirade? Really?<br>I waited... and kept waiting.

Finally I looked in her eyes and saw it. That spark that I had been dying to see.  
>The love had always been there, but what I could see now was worth just as much.<br>I saw her acceptance.  
>I reached out to hug her, teachers be damned, when she held up a hand and stopped me.<br>Before anyone else at the table could react, she left us speechless with her next move.

I loved how you could never really tell what this girl was going to do.

She kissed me.

Right there, in the middle of the cafeteria, in front of everyone.

Who cared about detention anyway, and its not like our parents/guardians were going to be miffed about this, they knew what we were, so they weren't going to worry about us making a mistake.  
>Of course I only thought of all that much later. For that moment, the only thing that mattered was that I was holding my imprint in my arms. She was back and she was right where she belonged. She was with me. The weight in my chest had disappeared and everything felt right again. And she was kissing me, which meant she couldn't be angry with me anymore;this was no goodbye kiss.<p>

Thank the spirits, I had my life back.

She pulled back amidst the hooting and hollering that I was just noticing; most of which came from my own table. Paul smirked while Embry couldn't resist a typical Embry remark. "Been watching chick flicks again McSquizzy?"

"Shut it Call," came the snarky rejoinder. "If the hottest wolf in your little pack is mine forever, then I am going to be damned sure that everyone around here knows it... You hear that? Clearwater is off limits," she called out the last part louder than the rest. There were cheers and a few whistles from some of our assembled classmates, amused at our little show.

Which was why they missed my whispered reply, "Always," although I'm pretty sure my brothers had heard.

It was at this point that we dragged her to sit down with us, my arm still wrapped around her waist. She rolled her eyes at me and I just grinned back with a shrug. It was going to be a while before I could bear to let her go.  
>Collin and Brady immediately began an inane debate on why there were multiple reasons for their being hotter than me, and Embry just laughed at us all. Paul shook his head before texting who I assumed was Rachel, probably to let her know that Kaia was with us.<p>

Finally Ryan spoke up, "Are you leaving La Push Kai?"  
>I knew he would have asked this sooner or later, so I listened for her reply, and was surprised when she didn't answer and just raised an eyebrow at Ryan instead. "Well... we heard you asking about mid-term transfers... and we... ummm..." was his awkward rejoinder.<p>

I expected her to flip out because we had eavesdropped, but was pleasantly surprised when her only answer was a smirk.

Finally she spoke... "Yeah... those questions weren't about transferring out, it was for transferring in."  
>She leaned forward, "Looks like La Push has another new kid."<p>

She paused, letting the others get adequately confused before interrupting again with, "Oh and Wakeh, I didn't come back alone..." and she glanced at the doorway that we all turned to face.

A slightly puzzled red-head stood there, surveying the scene before her, obviously looking for us.

Ryan's face was priceless, and only Embry had a remark to make.

"Welcome to La Push Miss Morgan."

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><p><strong>AN:** And there you have it. The end of 'Howling at the Moon' but not an end to the series itself. Watch out for the sequel which will be up super soon. Put me on Author Alert to get an update when it goes up.

The sequel will be Ryan and Michelle's side of the story, which means a couple of chapters will overlap, but with different POVs. Apart from those couple of chapters though, the rest will be about the both of them, and once their story is posted, I will be posting Embry's.

If you want someone else's story to go up, please leave me a comment/message or post it on my blog as well. For those of you who haven't voted on my profile poll yet, please go asap!

For those of you who have stuck with me through my first multi-chaptered story – Thank you and much love


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